Rutte's farewell party cost 150,000 euros, five times what is allowed

After fourteen years in office, former Prime Minister Mark Rutte celebrated his farewell, which was not cheap. According to invoices requested by the RTL Nieuws editorial team, the farewell party cost around 150,000 euros. This means that the costs of the celebrations were five times higher than what is permitted for a farewell party for a minister or state secretary, namely 30,000 euros.

Rutte's farewell party was described as a 'super cool' beach party that took place at a beach club in Scheveningen. A big party with around 1,400 guests from politics and the media.

This exclusive party was unusually expensive. A total of 145,625.59 euros had to be paid for decorations, catering, a live band and dozens of traffic controllers. In addition to the big party, there was also a small, intimate farewell party, which Rutte had previously held in his own ministry. The costs for this amounted to 5,44227 euros, according to RTL Nieuws.

Rutte's ministry, the Ministry of General Affairs, has thus far exceeded the usual budget of 30,000 euros. When asked by RTL Nieuws how such exorbitant costs could have been incurred, the ministry replied that it usually has a guideline for the costs of the farewell of cabinet members, including the prime minister.

"For example, if a minister has been in office for more than one term and there have been no farewell meetings in the meantime (...) In 14 years, he has worked with many people, both within and outside the Ministry of General Affairs."

"That is why two separate farewell gatherings were chosen: an internal farewell gathering at the Ministry of General Affairs for the current employees. And a broad farewell in a beach tent for 1,400 guests, such as employees of the House of Representatives, drivers, politicians, security guards, politicians, journalists, and (former) civil servants (...) The total amount includes, in addition to rent for the location and catering, the costs for additional safety measures necessary for the external farewell party, such as traffic controllers and barriers," a spokesperson for the ministry said.

But it wasn't just Rutte's ministry that dug deep into its pockets for farewell parties. In second place is the Ministry of Education, Culture, and Science, which spent a total of 82,500.21 euros on the farewell parties for the three ministers, Fleur Gräper, Gunay Uslu, and Robbert Dijkgraaf. This means that each farewell party cost 27,500.07 euros.

The ministry that spent the least money on its ministers' farewell parties was the Ministry of Finance. The costs for the four ministers' farewell parties amounted to 31,943 euros, which is 7,984 euros per minister, RTL Nieuws reports.