For the first time in thirteen years of prime minister, Mark Rutte reports sick for a day. And that’s quite difficult, for a man who always prides himself on his energy.
Two or three working visits a week, a debate or something, leading the Council of Ministers, teaching at the Johan de Witt Scholengroep in The Hague on Thursdays, holding meetings late into the night in Brussels: Prime Minister Mark Rutte does not turn a blind eye to such a typical working week . And he also made it his trademark: the VVD leader always has to radiate energy.
But just as Rutte awaits a difficult debate about the shaky state of his cabinet, a virus has got a grip on him. Rutte on Twitter: ‘After a sleepy night, because I probably ate something wrong, I went to the ministry today. Unfortunately I had to ask the chairman of the House of Representatives to postpone today’s debate to tomorrow in the expectation that I will have recovered by then.’ Something went wrong during a dinner with the King’s Commissioners.
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After a good night, because I probably ate something wrong, I went to the ministry today
And so it will only be debated on Wednesday about the incantation formula that his cabinet has devised among themselves about nitrogen. It now reads: about when we are going to achieve the nitrogen targets (in 2030 or 2035), the CDA is willing, allowed and able to negotiate again with partners D66, VVD and ChristenUnie at a later date.
The fact that the debate is canceled because Rutte is ill can be called unique. The Government Information Service even states that it is the first time in 13 years since Rutte has been Prime Minister that he has ‘missed a day’. In fact, the newspaper archives only show that in September 2007 he was ‘in bed for a week’ with the flu. Rutte was then still leader of the VVD.
The prime minister often does everything he can to hide his weaknesses. For example, he once completed a day of General Political Reflections, an hour-long debate, with the flu. He had even told his employees that only afterwards.
Snipping cold
Last year, Rutte turned up with a cold at his weekly press conference. There he hurried to say that he had self-tested, but would not have corona. “I’m a little bit snotty, but I can assure you: I’ve done all the self-tests and luckily it’s a common cold.” That was also according to the regulations at the time, although Rutte was criticized for it. But there probably wasn’t a hair on his head that thought about staying home anyway.
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