GroenLinks wants cabinet to resign following childcare subsidy scandal

The green party GroenLinks wants the cabinet to step down following the childcare subsidy scandal. Party leader Jesse Klaver made that appeal on the television program Buitenhof. If the cabinet does not step down voluntarily, he plans to come forward with a motion of no confidence. 

A special investigation found that many parents were wrongfully accused of fraud by the Dutch Tax Authorities and were ordered to repay considerable sums of money. A month ago, a parliamentary committee presented a report with damning conclusions. The committee spoke of unprecedented injustice, in which the principles of the rule of law were violated. 

Klaver argues that the Dutch government destroyed the lives of 20,000 families. According to him, GroenLinks is not quick to ask for an entire cabinet to resign. “But if you don’t take political responsibility for such a harsh report and step down, what else could you take responsibility for? Resigning is also an admission of guilt,” said Klaver. 

“Recovery operation”

According to GroenLinks, the entire cabinet must resign because of the scale of the affair and because the matter is broader than the position of one single minister. Klaver also argues that the incident is the result of years of destruction of the welfare state. According to him, the cabinet’s resignation would be an acknowledgment that the policies currently being pursued can no longer continue. Another cabinet must carry out a “recover operation” to rebuild the welfare state, argues Klaver.

Klaver said in Buitenhof that he wants to do everything in his election campaign to prevent VDD leader Mark Rutte from leading a cabinet again. According to Klaver, Rutte is responsible for the “great chaos that has arisen.” However, he also did not completely rule out joining a cabinet led by Rutte. The two parties with whom he will absolutely not form a coalition are the PVV and the Forum for Democracy. 

The cabinet has yet to come up with an official response to the parliamentary committee’s report but has already announced that the victims will all receive 30,000 euros in compensation. The cabinet is expected to publicly announce its position next Friday.