The resignation of the Dutch government can only be a start for the victims of the “aid affair”. They sense a step that is particularly effective in the media and urge further clarification.
By Ludger Kazmierczak, WDR-Studio Den Haag
A “blue letter” from the rounded service, the Dutch tax office, turned Janet Ramesar’s life upside down. The authorities accused the single mother of using false information to obtain aid to care for her son. After that, said the 35-year-old, she lost the ground under her feet.
“What happens then? Your wages will be seized, your allowances will be canceled. You automatically run into other debts. I became depressed, could neither eat nor drink, and lost 30 kilos in three months. That makes you sick. You know that.” you didn’t do anything wrong, but everything goes wrong. “
Janet Ramesar is no longer able to cope with everyday life, household chores, parenting. Last year she was deprived of custody of her 13-year-old son. In the meantime, your debts add up to 40,000 euros.
Tens of thousands of people affected
Ramesar is one of around 26,000 victims of the “toeslagen affaire”, the aid affair for which the Dutch government has assumed political responsibility with its resignation.
“The people were destroyed. I lost ten years of my life. Others have been busy for 15 years. You will never get the years back, but with this gesture by the government – that’s all it is – at least it shows: We want it make amends. “
Hunt down innocent citizens
What initially looked like a simple failure by the authorities, turns out to be a real scandal over the years. The final report presented by the commission of inquiry in December is entitled: “Unprecedented injustice”. The parliamentarians come to the conclusion that the tax offices have systematically hunted down innocent citizens. The lawyer Orlando Kadir, who legally represents 600 victims and was himself a victim of the arbitrariness of the authorities, even speaks of institutional racism.
“They selected for dual citizenships. What’s more: They looked for exotic names in the population register. My name is Kadir. That gives me a profile. Where there is smoke, there is fire. So they picked me out – with the ulterior motive: Land there we get a hit quickly. “
A small mistake is enough
An accidentally forgotten or incorrectly placed cross on the application form is enough for the tax officials to cancel the state subsidies for single mothers or socially disadvantaged parents and to reclaim money already received.
Some families have accumulated debts of more than 100,000 euros. At Maya Abdin from Groningen there are almost 70,000. The 30,000 euros in compensation that the cabinet has promised all victims can only be the beginning for them. And the resignation of the government, a few weeks before the next parliamentary election, is what she describes as symbolic politics. She wants to go back to her old life and finally be able to start from scratch.
“I’ve been grappling with it since 2012. It has to be over now. I have a right to a future and I want it to begin now. An end to all the stress and misery. I want to be able to let go, but it is still possible now Not.”
Resign and stay in office
Almost all ministers and state secretaries who resigned on Friday with media coverage remain in office. Only the leading candidate of the Social Democrats, Lodewijk Asscher, and Economics Minister Eric Wiebes actually throw it out.
Everyone else will run again in mid-March – including Prime Minister Rutte, who always speaks of shared responsibility and never of individual guilt.
Today he will have to listen to many critical questions from the opposition, because the “toeslagen affaire” is an issue in Parliament. And it will remain an issue until the March 17th election.
