European Parliament disgusted by allowances affair: ‘Blame in the history of the rule of law’ | Politics

In a plenary debate this evening, requested by Samira Rafaela (D66), both politically The Hague and Brussels were severely beaten. Dutch and other MPs from left to right did not have a good word for the Dutch government, which plunged thousands of families into misfortune and has still not compensated many victims. ,,Rutte is always at the forefront to measure countries such as Poland and Hungary. Instead of the splinter in the eyes of others, he should better look at the beam in his own eye”, says Michael Hoogeveen of JA21.

European Commissioner for Equality Helena Dalli was accused of doing nothing to tackle the scandal from Brussels. “Take your responsibility, and in any case ensure a moratorium on algorithms,” Rafaela urged her. The Dutch tax authorities used this to detect abuse and the computer programs automatically found people of foreign origin and often with a low income. “Algorithms without rules can have life-destroying consequences. People should never again be faced with a computer empty-handed,” said Kim van Sparrentak (GroenLinks).

Agnes Jongerius (PvdA): ,,We are already at 25,000 victims and the counter is still running. ‘This was not the intention’, you will hear afterwards, but the impression remains that this was exactly the intention.” Many MEPs, including foreign ones, find it scandalous that the Netherlands is now also training compensation again after the initial cover-up. And according to Anja Hazekamp (Party for the Animals) it should not stop there. “The government must recognize the perpetrator and feel what it has done. This is the result of a business-like neoliberal government that has cut itself to pieces.”

The Maltese European Commissioner for Equality received little credit from Parliament. She screened with ‘a compendium of good practices’ and European and national action plans. “We want to see action. This is about the rule of law,” Parliament said. Moreover, the misuse of data in the Netherlands is not an isolated incident, border security service Frontex and Europol also handle personal data far too easily, according to French Green Saskia Bricmont.

Slovak Christian Democrat Peter Pollák said that institutional racism without any political or judicial consequences is also the order of the day in his country. “Roma children are automatically placed in schools for children with learning disabilities. Their future is destroyed based on their name or skin color.”

Dalli saw no reason for more decisiveness in Parliament’s fierce criticism. In her closing remarks, she also kept to promises of ‘monitoring’, the conviction that Parliament and Justice will continue to handle the benefits case in the Netherlands and the hope that other countries will learn lessons from the mention of the benefits scandal in her annual rule of law report. Skepticism was evident on the faces of many MEPs.