Dutch government resigns after childcare scandal

LONDON – The entire Dutch government on Friday jointly resigned following a scandal involving mismanagement of childcare funds, which has plagued thousands of families in financial distress.

An investigation in December revealed that tax officials wrongly accused thousands of working families of fraud and ordered them to repay childcare benefits between 2013 and 2019. The event is described by some Dutch lawmakers as an “unprecedented injustice”.

The revelation led to the resignation of opposition leader Lodewijk Asscher, who on Thursday was the minister responsible for social affairs in the previous government.

The government led by Prime Minister Mark Rutte, who has been in power since 2017, decided on Friday to take responsibility and jointly step down as a result of the scandal.

Rutte told a news conference that he would continue to lead the Covid-19 emergency response with a caretaker status.

The Netherlands should have had a new parliamentary election in March, but the resignation of the government comes at a difficult time. The country is in a national exclusion and, according to Johns Hopkins University, has had nearly 1 million Covid-19 infections and 12,875 deaths since the onset of the health emergency. The Netherlands must also draw up a plan on how it will revamp the economy after the pandemic.

Rutte had earlier said that a resignation from the government would not be useful at the moment as the country needs stability to deal with the pandemic, reports Politico. However, this is not the first time that a Dutch government has resigned jointly to show a shared responsibility.

The families involved in this case lodged complaints against five politicians this week, including the current Minister of Finance, Wopke Hoekstra.

Given the proximity of the general election, ministers can finally remain in their roles until voters go to the polls.