Opposition fiercely on corona policy after report by the OVV
Opposition parties in the House of Representatives react critically to the report of the Dutch Safety Board on the first phase of the corona crisis. At the same time, the SP and PvdA do not find the conclusions surprising. GroenLinks is afraid that mistakes will not be learned.
The OVV spoke of a “silent disaster” in the nursing homes in the first phase of the corona crisis, but according to SP leader Lilian Marijnissen, it was not silent at all. “Because we have drawn attention to this in every debate, but the cabinet did not want to listen and even became angry.” Marijnissen finds that employees in nursing homes had to work without protective equipment in that first phase “the biggest shame in the cabinet’s approach to corona”.
PvdA MP Attje Kuiken thinks the conclusions are “not unexpected, but hard”. She thinks it is “high time to start the parliamentary inquiry and really learn the lessons, because the cabinet can no longer get away with the excuse of ‘being attacked by the virus'”.
Lisa Westerveld of GroenLinks understands that mistakes are made in a major crisis. “But then acknowledge them. And then take measures to prevent the mistakes from repeating themselves.” The reaction of the previous government does not reassure her. “As long as you don’t acknowledge that you’ve made mistakes, you won’t take steps to make sure it doesn’t happen again next time.” The OVV report contained a long, defensive response from former health minister Hugo de Jonge, who opposed the investigation council’s criticism.