D66 leader: Royalty costs "exorbitant", King "vulnerable"

"Already high costs and lack of openness ... make the king unnecessarily vulnerable," D66 leader Alexander Pechtold writes referring to the 127 million euro palace renovations. He calls this "exorbitantly high". According to Pechtold the King is also made vulnerable by Prime Minster Mark Rutte's speech about the fence, the jetty and boathouse of the King's Greek holiday villa as well as the 400 thousand euros temporary meeting space in the backyard of Willem-Alexander's home in Eikenhorst, Wassenaar. Pechtold gave Rutte advice to use his ministerial responsibility to add to the King's power before the budget debate today. The King can't defend it himself, the Prime Minister must do so for him. "Do not give half answers in the hope not to be questioned. Communicate openly instead of clouding the issue." "Rutte should not expose the Royal Family to new incidents. There he fails in his role." says GroenLinks leader Bram van Ojik. The SP finds that the answers Rutte gives on the Royal Family is often not extensive.