Prime Minister Mark Rutte has had his longest time as prime minister, if it is up to the participants in the Statement of the Day. More than 87 percent of voters believe that Rutte should resign after the damning report on gas extraction in Groningen.
‘Three times (surcharges, nitrogen and mining damage) is a charm’, summarizes one of the position holders. ‘A statesman who does not stand his ground’, judges another.
‘That twisting and his selective memory, he has gotten away with things for too long, that is simply not allowed to happen with this case’, says someone from Nieuwe Pekela, who ends his account with ‘Greetings from my subsiding torn house with rejected mining damage’.
The fact that the prime minister also refused to answer questions about the report on Friday did not do his case any good. ‘Unprecedentedly cowardly’, judges one participant in the statement.
Yet there are also those who believe that he should stay, if only because stepping down would cause even more delay. ‘A decision must now be made quickly about the unpaid debt to Groningen’, someone writes. ‘Rijk and Shell have earned more than 400 billion. Groningen should get a share of this: four percent seems reasonable to me – 16 billion, in other words. And the cabinet can arrange that. If the government falls, it will take another year longer.’
Moreover, a fall of the cabinet would also mean the end of State Secretary Vijlbrief ‘and I don’t want to lose him’, someone responds. “Moreover, the departure of the prime minister does not change the handling of the damage.”
Another also wants Vijlbrief to stay. ‘If the cabinet falls, State Secretary Vijlbrief will also leave, who is working diligently. We can’t use another endless formation in these turbulent times.’
