Sigrid Kaag during the debate on the Autumn Memorandum 2023 in the House of Representatives.Image ANP
Kaag has already been mentioned for the position. “In this role, she will facilitate, coordinate and monitor humanitarian assistance to Gaza,” the UN said in a statement on Tuesday evening. It should also set up a “mechanism” so that aid can be expedited into Gaza via countries not involved in the conflict, the statement said.
Kaag has worked for the UN several times in the past, including as head of a special joint mission of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and the UN in Syria. She also lived in the Middle East for many years. The D66 prominent calls it ‘honorable’ that UN Secretary General António Guterres asked her for the job. She hopes to contribute to a ‘better future’. “Peace, freedom and justice have always been my motivations,” Kaag writes in her resignation letter, which she wrote on X posted:
Today I requested His Majesty the King to resign as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance with effect from January 8, 2024. More information is in my letter ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/pc7yzOOh4K
— Sigrid Kaag (@Minister_FIN) 26 december 2023
Outgoing Prime Minister Mark Rutte wishes Kaag success with her ‘crucial and demanding assignment’. He’s late X know that he is convinced that Kaag has the knowledge and experience to fulfill the task ‘like no other’. Rutte also thanked her for their ‘close bond’ and good cooperation.
Tired and exhausted
Despite heavy criticism of the VVD leader, Kaag joined the fourth Rutte cabinet. “We were already tired and exhausted when we started that cabinet,” she said recently on Radio 1. “Then came the war in Ukraine, sky-high inflation, all kinds of major problems.”
Kaag was brought in with high expectations in 2020 as the new party leader of D66. From day one she was portrayed as ‘the first female Prime Minister of the Netherlands’ and the challenger to Mark Rutte. She accepted it eagerly and also committed herself to the Tower without any hesitation. ‘New leadership’ became the accompanying slogan.
As a vote-getter, she more than fulfilled the promise. For the first time in party history, D66 won elections after a term of government, with 24 seats. In the debate about the ‘function elsewhere’ note on the evening of April 1, 2021, Kaag had Prime Minister Rutte’s political fate in his hands, the key to the new leadership she had promised. “This is where our paths part,” she said when it turned out that Rutte had not told the truth about his actions around critical MP Pieter Omtzigt. But she didn’t bite the bullet. The motion of no confidence did not receive her support, Rutte was able to continue. Soon afterwards, according to the polls, she lost a large part of the left-progressive voters she had managed to win over in the campaign.
Formally, her successor as D66 leader Rob Jetten, who will also become deputy prime minister, will take over Kaag’s duties as Minister of Finance until a successor is found. In practice, the work will be done by CDA State Secretary for Finance Marnix van Rij, Rutte makes clear.
Kaag previously hinted that she aspired to an international position again after the fall of the cabinet. Due to threats and intimidation, she decided not to become party leader again in July last year. She was succeeded by Rob Jetten, who with D66 was left with 9 seats in the last elections. “While she ignored herself and her family, her leadership brought a lot to the Netherlands,” Jetten looked back on Kaag’s time in The Hague politics on Tuesday evening. “Hopefully she can make a valuable contribution to alleviating the suffering in Gaza.”
Party member and defense minister Kajsa Ollongren thanked Kaag for her ‘courage and leadership’ and called her departure ‘a great loss’.
In the meantime, Kaag has to get to work while a ceasefire, which various parties have requested, is far from sight. That ceasefire is being opposed by Israel and the US, because Hamas would benefit from it. Supporters point to the humanitarian drama in Gaza.
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2023-12-26 20:03:45
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