News item | 2023-04-20 | 3:30 pm
Ron van Dartel, Special Envoy for Business and the Reconstruction of Ukraine, will step down immediately. Van Dartel resigns his duties in response to his statements in the book If you lower the bar, you won’t jump higher by Gerard Dielessen. Minister Liesje Schreinemacher (Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation) respects the decision and has accepted his resignation.
A successor will be sought as soon as possible. In the meantime, the Dutch effort for reconstruction continues unabated.
The statements were made after Van Dartel’s retirement and before his appointment as special envoy, but have only now been published. The minister and the ministry were not aware of the conversation with the author of the book. Van Dartel was appointed as a special envoy in early April. He has realized that he can no longer function credibly with the statements made and has therefore decided to resign his position immediately.