Schoof rules out releasing minutes to clear up racism claims

 

Schoof rules out releasing minutes to clear up racism claims

November 18, 2024

https://www.dutchnews.nl/2024/11/schoof-rules-out-releasing-minutes-to-clear-up-racism-claims/

 

Prime minister Dick Schoof has ruled out releasing the minutes of last Monday’s ministerial council following the resignation of junior finance minister Nora Achahbar amid allegations of racist remarks by her colleagues.

 

Schoof said the minutes were classified for 20 years under Dutch law and the cabinet would not be making an exception.

 

Opposition parties last week called for the documents to be published to clear up exactly what was said during Monday’s cabinet meeting, which apparently triggered Achahbar’s resignation.

 

GroenLinks-PvdA leader Frans Timmermans told NPO Radio 1: “Whether or not it was said, it would help a lot if we could read them.” His party and D66 are pressing for a debate in parliament later this week on Achahbar’s departure.

 

The NSC minister, who was responsible for dealing with compensation for the childcare benefits scandal that brought down Mark Rutte’s third cabinet in 2022, was widely reported to have complained about “extremely racist language” by the other three parties in the coalition.

 

Sources claimed one minister had used a common racial slur to describe Dutch Moroccans in front of Achahbar, who was born in Morocco.

 

However, none of the quotes were directly attributed to Achahbar and in her resignation statement she referred to “polarising” language.

 

Crisis averted

“The tone and language of the debate as it has been conducted in the last week conflicts with my personal values and integrity and conflicts with who I am,” she said.

 

A full-scale crisis was narrowly averted on Friday when the remaining NSC ministers agreed to stay in the cabinet following talks with the four coalition party leaders at the Catshuis, the prime minister’s official residence in The Hague.

 

Schoof insisted repeatedly during a press conference that there “is and was no question of racism” in his team. “This is a cabinet that fights against racism, against anti-Semitism and against discrimination,” he said.

 

Last Monday’s meeting was dominated by the violence that erupted before and after the recent Europa League match in Amsterdam between Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv and Schoof’s comments that the Netherlands had an “integration problem” among its Moroccan community.

 

Meanwhile, NSC party leader Pieter Omtzigt is rumoured to be poised to return to parliament next week, more than two months after he took “a step back” for health reasons.

 

Omtzigt did not formally take sick leave, but was temporarily replaced as leader by Nicolien van Vroonhoven and is said to have kept in touch with his colleagues behind the scenes.

 

The 50-year-old took a four-month absence from work after suffering a burnout three years ago when he was an MP for the Christian Democrat party (CDA). His temporary replacement at the time, Henri Bontenbal, is now leader of the party.