Dutch king won't say if he will attend World Cup in Qatar

Dutch King Willem-Alexander was not willing to give a definitive answer about his possible presence at the World Cup in Qatar. The king will make a decision about this partly on the basis of "personal feelings" about the situation, he said on Wednesday afternoon in Athens at the end of a state visit to Greece.

The Cabinet has informed the Tweede Kamer in a letter that a Dutch delegation is going to the event, but the members of that delegation are not yet known. Early last year, the Tweede Kamer supported a motion by the SP telling the Cabinet not to send an official delegation because of exploitation of migrant laborers who built the stadiums.

But keeping the Cabinet away from the World Cup will not improve human rights in the small Gulf state, according to Foreign Affairs Minister Wopke Hoekstra. He also pointed out that working conditions in Qatar have improved in recent years.

"I don't think this is the place to go into detail about this now. I think I'll stick to the letter from the Cabinet to the Tweede Kamer," King Willem-Alexander said. Several attempts by the journalists present to get an answer from the king were to no avail. The king refused to comment further. "I will also make a decision based on personal feelings."

He would not share what he meant by that.

The Cabinet kept quiet on the matter for many months after the Tweede Kamer passed the motion. The wish of the parliament was being kept "under consideration." In the meantime, the Cabinet entered into talks with the Qatari authorities about improving working conditions and human rights.