“It’s taking too long,” sang victims of the benefits scandal on Tuesday evening from the public gallery of the House of Representatives.
Room: Compensation is a quagmire, a mess and a nightmare
The House spoke for the umpteenth time about the slow compensation of benefit parents. That compensation has become a “swamp”, a “disorder” and a “nightmare”, is the tenor. The parties are furious that the recovery operation has stalled again.
Many MPs also used the words “it takes too long” from the song by Dutch singer Davina Michelle during the emotional debate.
Compensation of the parents may take until 2030, the cabinet fears. But State Secretary Aukje de Vries (Benefits) hopes to take measures to ensure that all parents have received a full assessment of their file by 2025 at the latest. That is still five years after the publication of the report Unknown Injustice about the benefits scandal.
As a result of that report, the previous cabinet resigned in early 2021. It was then decided to give parents 30,000 euros if they were disadvantaged by the tax authorities. But after the first test, which shows whether someone has been duped or not, the system crashes. Parents who indicate that they are entitled to more money often have to wait many months.
The opposition is especially fierce. They say that De Vries missed opportunities to speed things up. For example, the SP had previously proposed to arrange the assessment in one day, whereby victims go through a kind of car wash and go through all the steps. “There is no ability to think: hell, there is only one life. How do we ensure that these people can live again as quickly as possible”, says SP member Renske Leijten about both the State Secretary and the top officials of the responsible organization.
‘What does the prime minister actually do after he has apologized’
Several MPs also aimed their arrows specifically at Prime Minister Mark Rutte. He is much too invisible, they think. “It irritates me that it is not high on the agenda in the Council of Ministers,” said Inge van Dijk of coalition party CDA. THINK leader Farid Azarkan said he was “extremely disappointed that Rutte has abandoned all those parents”. “I want to know: what does the prime minister actually do after he has apologized and spoken to parents,” said PvdA MP Henk Nijboer. What has Rutte himself contributed in recent years, he wonders.
Chairman Vera Bergkamp admonished the parents several times, despite her understanding of the emotions. Spectators are not allowed to interfere in the debate, according to the rules of the Chamber. A number of them then left the stands later in the debate. State Secretary De Vries was visibly affected by this. She called it “very sad”.