At the heart of the political crisis is an image that Mark Root participates in

After a fourteen-hour debate that ended at 3 a.m. on Friday April 4, the outgoing Dutch prime minister and VVD leader Mark Rutte approved the motion of withholding confidence by just three votes. It was a matter of his conduct during the discussions to form a fourth governing coalition that he would lead. However, nearly the entire Parliament supported a motion of blame against him, an initiative that did not directly question Rota as the acting prime minister, but rather his behavior: which could have led to his resignation, but it did not result in the practical plan. Consequences, because Rute decided not to leave office and to continue negotiating to form a new government.

However, observers and local newspapers agree that the reliability of Rutte is questionable and that the outgoing prime minister has suffered serious political damage.

The recall proposal was sought by the PVV, the far-right Geert Wilders’ party, and was also supported by all of the other opposition parties. Instead, the censure proposal was put forward by Sigrid Kaag, the leader of the D66 Center Party, Bastian Hoekstra, Apollo Christian Democracy, and the Christian Union, meaning the three parties that were part of the coalition that supported the previous Rota government. It was voted by the entire Parliament, except for the VVD deputies. Cag was particularly critical of Root during the discussion: “My confidence in Rote has been damaged severely,” he said.

The general elections in mid-March had taken place Twenty By the center-right Rutte Party, which has governed the country since 2010. Rutte then began negotiations to form a new governing coalition. But a week ago, negotiations stalled due to the publication of a photo in the newspapers, which sparked much discussion.

Leaves of Cajsa Olungren formation. ANP photographer zoomed in. This makes notes partially legible. On the paper you can read, among other things: “Put Omtzigt, it works elsewhere.”
I just didn’t say anything…. pic.twitter.com/pK934S13js

HenkKrol March 25, 2021

Pictured is MP Cagsa Olungren leaving the Dutch parliament building after learning that she was infected with the Coronavirus. The photo showed Olungren, who was leading talks for the new government, carrying documents containing details of the ongoing negotiations. On one of these sheets it was written: “Omtzigt’s position, important elsewhere.”

Peter Umtzigt is a member of parliament for the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA), who is very critical of Rota and is known because it is also thanks to him that the scandal related to family benefits that last January led to the resignation of the previous government was public.

ROTA’s third government in power since 2017, He has resigned After a parliamentary report revealed the very aggressive approach taken by the state, starting in 2012, to demand that about 20 thousand families return the monthly benefits they receive as a contribution to raising their children: The families have also been accused of fraud and bringing them to justice. . Due to the strict legal mechanism, many of them were prevented from appealing the decision. After many years, it was discovered that the families in question – half of which consisted of people of dual nationality and therefore of foreign origin – had been sued for bureaucratic error. But in the meantime, some of them got into debt to compensate the government, and generally dealt with the allegations with great difficulty.

Last week, after the photo was published with the documents in the hands of negotiator Cagsa Olungren, Rutte told reporters that he had not discussed the appointment of Umtzijt the politician during his talks, and continued to support that position in the following days. Olungren and the other negotiator also sent a letter to the House stating that Omtzigt was never mentioned.

On Thursday, April 1, the transcript of the talks was announced, of which Rota instead appeared He didn’t tell the truth. Rutte was actually going to talk about Omtzigt assuming he could get a “significant role”. Its accusers suspect of silencing a particularly critical figure by taking her out of the room and appointing her to a ministerial position.

After the statement was published, Rutte claimed that he did not lie, but only that he had not remembered that part of the discussion: so he made it clear that he answered the journalists’ questions “in good faith”: “I am telling the truth.” He also added that he only remembered the clip on Omtzigt when he received a phone call on Thursday morning: however, he refused to say who and that is why he was severely criticized during the debate.

On Thursday April 1st, the parliamentary debate was long and extremely difficult against Root. “Don’t you realize your time is up?” Wilders said. “How can you, in the biggest crisis we face, get back the confidence that has been damaged again?” Asked Sigrid Kaag. Olongren also spoke. And she apologized, citing the letter in which it was stated that there was no reference to the deputy Umtzit during the talks, and admitted that it was incorrect: “I informed the room incorrectly.” However, she made it clear that in her notes she had not written anything about this comment because she did not consider it relevant: the full minutes announced afterwards were not prepared by her, but by other employees present at the interviews who admitted, his responsibility.

The relevant MP, who was sworn in as a Member of Parliament on Wednesday, was not present at the debate. After publishing the picture to it Advertise That his “removal” from Parliament was “an insult to the country’s voters.”

After broad approval of the censure proposal, as well as by all of Rutte’s potential future coalition partners, the outgoing prime minister said he still intended to continue negotiations to try to form a new government: “Parliament has given me a serious message and I will do my best to restore confidence.”