Members of parliament want debate factual Sywert

The cabinet does not want to release additional details about the role of Minister Hugo de Jonge (CDA) in the face mask deal with his then party colleague Sywert van Lienden. Last week, a majority of the House of Representatives asked for a ‘statement of facts’ about the role of De Jonge – then the Minister of Health – after de Volkskrant had revealed that De Jonge had personally interfered with the deal. He urged an official to contact Van Lienden.

The cabinet rejected that request by letter. An independent investigation into the deal is underway that should provide “as complete a picture as possible”, wrote Minister Conny Helder (Langdurige Zorg, VVD). “Excluding part of the statement of fact would not do justice to the care and completeness of the investigation.” Helder hopes to be able to send the results of the study to the House of Representatives before the summer recess.

Opposition parties PvdA and GroenLinks, which submitted the first request for the report of the facts, now want such an overview. The argument of MPs Lisa Westerveld (GroenLinks) and Attje Kuiken (PvdA) is that it concerns a different subject than the research.

Moreover, De Jonge himself has already made statements in the media, the members of parliament say. He said last week that suggestions in the Volkskrant article were incorrect, without further explanation.

The question now is whether the majority of the House of Representatives is satisfied with Minister Helder’s statement, says Wim Voermans, professor of constitutional and administrative law at Leiden University. “A minister is constitutionally obliged to inform the House. There is no deadline in the Constitution, but the agreement is to do it in three weeks.”

Postponement is possible with a good reason, says Voermans. “If a majority of the House agrees that the report with the rest of the research results comes to the House, that is also possible.”

It will become clear on Tuesday morning whether the House of Representatives still wants a statement of facts.

If that doesn’t happen, Attje Kuiken wants more details to be given in a debate. A request for a debate on the subject will be considered on Tuesday. Kuiken wants De Jonge to be present himself – he already spoke to journalists last week, Kuiken reasons, so he can also come and give text and explanation in the House of Representatives.

GroenLinks also believes that De Jonge “cannot just hide behind other ministers”. De Jonge is no longer formally about the face mask deal, he is now Minister for Housing, the ministerial responsibility lies with his successors at the Ministry of Health, Ernst Kuipers (D66) and Conny Helder.

In theory, De Jonge could come to the House of Representatives to explain himself, says Professor Voermans. “A minister can always appear in the House for any subject. But that can lead to problems within the cabinet: suppose the House is not satisfied with its statement, what then? Formally, Kuipers would have to resign, because that’s how ministerial responsibility works, Kuipers is responsible for his predecessor.”