commentary
For a long time, the House of Representatives hardly seemed to take its own parliamentary inquiry into the approach to the corona pandemic seriously. There was an argument about what to investigate and the composition changed almost permanently. Now that the public hearings will start next week, it is hoped that our parliament will show its better side, writes political reporter Hans van Soest in this commentary.
Parliamentary reporter and columnist
Of course: everyone can already predict the most important conclusion of the survey. There are thick reports from the Dutch Safety Board: we were poorly prepared. In a panic, measures had to be taken without knowing in advance whether they would be sufficient. And we also took measures that, in retrospect, turned out to be unnecessary. And yet it is good that the House is taking a critical look back.
The importance of a survey is that we learn from the past for next time. And that is more important than ever in this case, because an epidemic can resurface at any time. For example, protocols have now been taken out of the closet in hospitals in case Ebola infections appear here.
For part of society, the survey will only be successful if culprits are identified out of frustration about the sometimes very drastic corona measures. That anger ignores the enormous pile of coffins that piled up at the start of the pandemic in northern Italy and the thousands of people who died painfully in our ICUs and nursing homes in the months that followed.
It is important that this committee does not look for someone to blame for the sake of effect
According to the chairman of the inquiry committee, MP Daan de Kort, the inquiry has been successful if public accountability by the key players of the time creates some understanding between the groups that have had their backs to each other since the corona period.
It is therefore important that this committee does not look for someone to blame for the sake of effect – as happened with some previous committees of inquiry. Otherwise, we run the risk that in the next pandemic, directors will not do everything necessary for fear of being held accountable for mistakes later. The committee must now prove that – after all the internal bickering of recent years – seriously looks at what can be improved in the future.
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