Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte announced the resignation of the cabinet in a speech on Friday, saying that responsibility for the scandal “ultimately rests with the incumbent cabinet and nowhere else.”
During the scandal, about 10,000 families in the Netherlands were told that they had to pay back tens of thousands of euros in subsidies after they had been wrongly accused of child welfare fraud.
Rutte gave his speech in the aftermath of the publication of a report by the Parliamentary Interrogation Committee on Childcare Allowance, which he called ‘very harsh, but fair’.
“Mistakes have been made at all levels of the political-administrative-legal system that have resulted in grave injustice to thousands of parents,” he noted.
The Dutch Prime Minister made it clear that financial compensation for the affected parents ‘is the first thing that must be properly arranged’.
“We will continue to work on rapid compensation and the improvements needed for the future.”
Elections for a new government will take place in mid-March, he announced until then, the current administration will remain on and “can be expected to do what is necessary in the national interest”.
Rutte has been in power for more than ten years and took the lead in October 2010. If his party wins the elections in two months, he can form a new board.
Rutte addressed the Dutch: “Our fight against the corona virus continues.”