Explained: The child subsidy scandal that led to the collapse of the Dutch government

Written by Rahel Philipose, edited by Explained Desk | Panjim |

Updated: Jan. 18, 2021 11:40:25

The government of the Netherlands resigned collectively on Friday amid a growing scandal over the mismanagement of childcare subsidies, as a result of which thousands of Dutch families – especially ethnic minorities – still face insurmountable debt.

Speaking on behalf of the center-right quadripartite coalition, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte announced that his government had accepted responsibility for the scandal and that it would only stay on an interim basis until a new government was formed after the next general election.

“The government has failed to measure up throughout this affair,” he told a press conference. “Mistakes have been made at all levels of the state, resulting in terrible injustice to thousands of parents.”

What was the scandal that led to the resignation of the Dutch government?

A parliamentary inquiry found that the country’s tax authorities had wrongly accused more than 26,000 Dutch parents of fraud since 2012 and ordered 10,000 of those families to repay tens of thousands of euros in child subsidies.

The investigative report, released last month, concluded that “unprecedented injustice” had been inflicted on these innocent families, as a result of which many faced unemployment, bankruptcy and divorce, Reuters reported .

According to the report, “basic principles of the rule of law have been violated” by the Dutch tax administration and investigations into family fraud have often been triggered by something as simple as an administrative error, such as a missing signature.

Chris van Dam, chairman of the parliamentary commission of inquiry, said the fraud identification system was “a mass process in which there was no room for nuance”.

Last year, the Dutch tax administration admitted it had chosen at least 11,000 bi-national families for tighter controls, sparking a new debate on systemic racism within the Dutch bureaucracy. It also shows why the majority of families affected by the scandal are ethnic minorities.

Have the families taken legal action against the government?

This week, twenty of the families involved took legal action against several ministers in the outgoing coalition, accusing them of criminal negligence by failing to respect the principles of good governance, discrimination and violation of children’s rights, the Guardian reported. .

Dutch Health Minister Tamara Van Ark, Finance Minister Wopke Hoekstra, Economic Affairs Minister Eric Wiebes, former Tax Minister Menno Snel and opposition Labor Party leader Lodewijk Asscher have all been cited in court documents.

In fact, Asscher, who was Minister of Social Affairs between 2012 and 2017 – the period when the scandal unfolded, unbeknownst to most – resigned from his post on Thursday, after being the subject of much criticism. But he insisted he was unaware that the tax administration was “wrongly tracking down thousands of families.”

How did the government respond to the parliamentary inquiry report?

Shortly after the report was published last month, the Dutch government announced compensation of at least 30,000 euros for each of the families falsely accused of fraud. Dutch Prime Minister Rutte handed in his resignation to King Willem-Alexander on Friday, saying political responsibility for the scandal lay with his cabinet.

“You can never allow things to go so badly again,” he said.

Earlier, Rutte – who has served as the country’s prime minister since 2010 – said his government would not resign because it would hamper the national response to the coronavirus pandemic. However, public pressure to resign began to build after Asscher resigned from his post, observers said.

What is the next step for Rutte and his cabinet?

For now, Rutte and his cabinet will remain in power on an interim basis until the country’s general elections scheduled for March 17. But polls suggest his People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy will likely win a fourth term.

According to the Guardian, the party is expected to return to power with 30% of the vote, more than double the share of the vote predicted for the Geert Wilders’ anti-Islam Freedom party – the country’s second most popular party. .

Since 2010, when he came to power, Rutte has been re-elected twice.