The opposition in the House of Representatives wants clarification from Prime Minister Mark Rutte about the way in which he stores his message traffic. A spokesperson confirmed after a report in de Volkskrant that the Prime Minister deleted messages on his old telephone that he did not consider important enough to save.
“The actions of those in power must be transparent and verifiable,” tweeted PvdA leader Attje Kuiken. “By destroying his correspondence for years, Rutte has made himself uncontrollable. That is bad and undermines democracy.”
“This is the behavior of a prime minister who is frantically trying to prevent all openness,” said GroenLinks leader Jesse Klaver. “Possibly against the law.” He wants a debate and suggests that everything should be done to retrieve the deleted text messages via the provider. Member of parliament Wybren van Haga also thinks Rutte has broken the law and asks for an “urgent debate”.
iffy
According to SP leader Lilian Marijnissen, the Council of State “has made a clear statement that text messages from ministers should simply be available. And of course it is not okay that you select what is and what is not available. That is not up to him. .”
MP Stephan van Baarle of DENK speaks of a dubious state of affairs. “Mark Rutte therefore determined which correspondence from Mark Rutte was important enough to keep and what can be made public.” He also wants to discuss this with the Prime Minister in a debate.
no judgment
Minister of Finance and D66 leader Sigrid Kaag says that in principle she does not delete messages. “Everything remains available with me,” she says. At most, she sometimes knew “quarrels with the children” from her WhatsApp history. She has “no judgment” about Rutte’s handling of his messages.