Childcare subsidy scandal forces Dutch government to resign
The government of Holland’s Prime Minister Mark Rutte collectively resigned today over a recent report which blamed Rutte’s cabinet for mismanaging childcare subsidies that brought financial ruin to thousands of low-income families in the Netherlands.
According to Dutch state broadcaster NOS, ministers will stay on as ‘demissionair‘ – or caretaker government – until the general election on 17 March. This means they will be unable to introduce any new policies and they should limit public spending.
Earlier this week, Rutte indicated he was keen to stay on to tackle the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, but other coalition party leaders, including minister for foreign trade and D66 leader Sigrid Kaag, said “political consequences” from the report were unavoidable.
No surprise
Commentators had widely expected the collapse of the four-party coalition. Pressure was added on Thursday, when Labour’s party leader Lodewijk Asscher resigned over the scandal.
As minister, Asscher was responsible for social affairs and welfare at the time of the scandal, in which thousands of parents were wrongly accused of committing childcare benefit fraud. Authorities ordered them to pay back tens of thousands of euros over a period of nearly ten years, causing many families acute hardship.