The Dutch government has fallen. The scandal surrounding the supplements has made Prime Minister Mark Rutte and his ministers decide to throw in the towel. “The system has failed at all levels, but the political responsibility rests with the incumbent cabinet. Nowhere else.”
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Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s government has been haunted by the benefits affair for a long time. The case revolves around some 26,000 parents who were wrongly accused of fraud with the childcare allowance. Due to the harsh fraud approach at the tax authorities, which recovered tens of thousands of euros, thousands of people ended up in financial difficulties.
A commission investigating the affair concluded that the many thousands of parents who were victims have been “unprecedented injustice”. In recent days, the call to the government to leave has become increasingly louder. What undoubtedly played a major role in this is that there will be elections in the Netherlands within two months. The prime minister’s party there seemed to be heading for a simple and big victory, but the current situation could seriously hurt the chances of new election victory. This plays into the hands of the opposition parties.
Rutte and the rest of his government decided on Friday that the situation was no longer tenable. They throw in the towel, Rutte will offer their resignation to the king.
“The whole system has failed, but only one final political responsibility”
Prime Minister Rutte explained his decision during a press conference. He called the surcharge affair a failure at “all levels, but the political responsibility rests with the sitting cabinet. Nowhere else.”
“Innocent people have been criminalized, their lives have been destroyed and the House has been incorrectly and incompletely informed about this.” For that reason, the cabinet is resigning collectively, so it is now becoming ‘caretaker’ or resigning. The Minister of Economic Affairs and Climate, Eric Wiebes, has resigned immediately. He will be replaced before the elections, but as far as he is concerned, there are two priorities for the outgoing government: “corona and settling this terrible issue”.
(Read more under Mark Rutte’s speech)
Video: rr
“To the affected parents, I want to say this: we will continue to work on rapid compensation and the improvements needed for the future.” Rutte emphasizes that the ‘becoming outgoing’ of the cabinet has no consequences for the parents. “Because it happened violently. The rule of law has failed and the answer is that we as a cabinet take responsibility. ”
Rutte also states that the entire allowance system must be replaced. “It cannot and must not go wrong again so terribly. That is why a whole new allowance system must be introduced. Starting with the child allowance. (…) The provision of information must also be fundamentally overhauled. For example, the documents that form the basis of a cabinet decision will be made public. ” Rutte has always resisted the latter in the past.
Rutte emphasized that there was unanimity within the coalition about the view that the benefits affair was serious enough to warrant the dismissal of the entire government. Only the question whether a resigning government is able to thoroughly tackle the corona crisis still raised doubts. “We are of one mind. If the entire system has failed, only joint responsibility can be borne. ”
To the questions of the journalists present whether Rutte also feels personally responsible, Rutte said not. “I am not personally involved in this file, but I am politically accountable.” Rutte says he has never considered resigning. Remaining on as party leader of the VVD is also not up for discussion for him. “It is up to the voter to comment on this.”
The king has taken the question into consideration, the Government Information Service has now announced.
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