Dutch govt risks collapse over benefits scandal

THE HAGUE: Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s government is set to decide Saturday whether to resign over a child benefits scandal, threatening political turmoil as the country battles the coronavirus pandemic.

Thousands of parents were wrongly accused by Dutch authorities of fraudulently claiming child allowance, with many of them forced to pay back large amounts of money and ending up in financial ruin.

Dutch public broadcaster NOS, quoting sources close to the government, said that it was now ‘inevitable’ that liberal leader Rutte’s four-party cabinet would resign when it discusses the issue at its regular meeting today.

But Rutte – who has been in power since 2010 and is one of Europe’s longest-serving leaders – said late Friday that he did not want to prejudge the cabinet’s chances of surviving the scandal.

“Tomorrow we will talk again about the substantive reaction to the report on the benefits, and then I suspect the political question will also be discussed,” Rutte told reporters.

A hard-hitting parliamentary investigation in December said civil servants cut off benefits to thousands of families wrongly accused of fraud between 2013 and 2019.

The row comes just two months before elections are due on March 17, and could leave the Netherlands without a government in the midst of a surge in cases of a new Covid19 variant that first emerged in Britain.

Rutte has opposed the cabinet’s resignation, saying the country needs leadership during the coronavirus pandemic.

He has, however, said that if it resigned he could be authorised to lead a caretaker government to deal with coronavirus until elections – in which polls say his Freedom and Democracy Party would likely come first.

But other parties in the coalition are pressing for the government to resign, saying they need to take responsibility for a scandal that Dutch media said had affected some 26,000 people.

They could also face a possible confidence vote in parliament next week. — AFP