Khadija Arib has been “flickered to the lions.” Barbara Kathmann of the PvdA twirls her finger in the air to indicate the group of MPs sitting around her. “That can happen,” she says, “any of us.” Eva van Esch of the Party for the Animals nods, she looks concerned.
Tuesday afternoon, November 1. This is the meeting that the clerk of the House of Representatives, Simone Roos, called “the most disconcerting meeting” of her long career in her letter of resignation last Friday. In the room are members of parliament who are members of the ‘committee for the working method’ in the House of Representatives. Chamber president Vera Bergkamp will tell them about the investigation into possible cross-border behavior by PvdA member Arib against employees of the House of Representatives. There are complaints about “abuse of power” and a “reign of terror” during the time when Arib was chairman of the parliament.
The ushers poured coffee and prepared water. Someone from the reporting and editing department keeps track of what is being said. Two employees of the registry, also Simone Roos, are sitting next to Bergkamp. And you might think: this meeting is about them. But it’s not like that. There are MPs who start talking about the protection of employees. Kathmann also mentions them. But when she says that an “unsafe situation” has arisen, she means: for the MPs. According to her, Arib has been “publicly destroyed”.
Eva van Esch continues to nod, Kathmann also receives support from others. What is striking that afternoon: only Liane den Haan – ex-50Plus, now leader of her Gold party – takes a strong stand for the employees. “It is of the utmost importance,” she says, “that they are protected.”
In her office, just before Roos and four others from the top of the civil service resign on Friday, Den Haan says: “We seem to be able to do nothing here other than make things political and involve ourselves.” Officials had come to thank her after the meeting. “Tens.” They had been “dismayed.” Den Haan also says that she has no judgment about Arib. And that as a manager you can make employees angry. She herself was a director of the ANBO elderly association. “There were volunteers who called me a bitch or Mrs. Putin. But if complaints come against you, you must cooperate with an investigation.”
Gold is a party for the elderly, Den Haan will not attract many voters with her performance. She shrugs. “Sometimes it is like a schoolyard here. There I used to have a tendency to stand up for the weakest.”
The committee will meet again this Wednesday. But without Simone Roos. She believes that she can no longer do her job “in good conscience and safely”. “Horrible,” says Liane den Haan. “She’s right.”
A version of this article also appeared in the newspaper of November 15, 2022