Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and his entire cabinet resigned on Friday to accept political responsibility for a scandal investigating child welfare payments that wrongly labeled thousands of parents as fraudsters. In a national television speech, Rutte said he had informed King Willem-Alexander of his decision and promised that his government would continue to reimburse his work as soon as possible and fight the coronavirus.
“We believe that if we fail the whole system, we must all accept responsibility, and this has led to the conclusion that I have just offered the king, the resignation of the whole cabinet,” Rutte said.
Photo by REMKO DE WAAL / ANP / AFP via Getty Images
The move was considered largely symbolic; Rutte’s government will remain in a state of emergency until a new coalition is formed after an election on March 17 in the Netherlands.
The resignation ends a decade of ten years for Rutte, although his party is expected to win the election, thus putting him first in line to begin talks on the next government. If he succeeds in forming a new coalition, Rutte will most likely become prime minister again.
The Netherlands is the third European country to be thrown into political uncertainty this week coronavirus crisis. In Estonia, the government has resigned over a corruption scandal, while Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte’s ruling coalition is in danger of collapsing after a small party withdrew its support.
Rutte said earlier this week that his government will be able to make difficult policy decisions in the fight against the coronavirus, even if it is a caretaker. The Netherlands is in a difficult exclusion until at least February 9, and the government is considering imposing an overnight ban amid fears of new, more contagious variants of the virus.
“To the Netherlands, I say: our fight against the coronavirus will continue,” Rutte said.
On Thursday, the leader of the Dutch opposition party resigned because he was minister of social affairs in a governing coalition led by Rutte when the country’s tax office introduced a harsh policy to detect child welfare fraud.
Lodewijk Asscher’s decision further put Rutte under pressure ahead of Friday’s cabinet meeting. Ministers would decide on their response to a scathing report issued last month, entitled “Unknown Injustice”, which states that the tax office’s policy is in conflict with ‘fundamental principles of the rule of law’. The report also criticized the government for the way it provided parliament with information on the scandal.
Many parents who were wrongly accused were plunged into debt when tax officials demanded repayment of the claim. The government has in the past apologized for the tax office’s methods and in March earmarked 500 million euros ($ 607 million) to compensate more than 20,000 parents.
One of the parents was waiting near parliament when the cabinet met and said she wanted to resign.
“It’s important to me because it’s the government that acknowledges, ‘We made a mistake and we take responsibility,’ because that’s something that happened to us, ‘Janet Ramesar told The Associated Press.
Rutte plans to lead his Conservative People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy after the March election, and polls suggest it will win the most seats. This would put Rutte, who had been at the head of three different coalitions for a decade, first in line to try to form the next ruling coalition.
Deputy Prime Minister Kajsa Ollongren, who serves as Home Secretary, said when she entered Friday’s sitting that it is very important to be accountable and also to show responsibility in a political sense, and we are going to talk about that in the Council of Ministers. today. ‘