“The gas extraction machine rumbled on and on. And as a result, not only houses, but also people’s lives have been damaged,” said Prime Minister Mark Rutte in Garmerwolde on Tuesday afternoon. “On behalf of the cabinet, I apologize for that today.”
Rutte has thought about resigning, he said after the press conference, where Rutte and Vijlbrief apologized on behalf of the cabinet and announced measures to solve the problems in Groningen and to offer prospects for the future. In front of the RTV Noord camera, Rutte said: “Of course you think about it. The fact that I am here means that I want to be part of how we can now move this forward in a good way. I think it is very important that we now also work on the follow-up.”
The prime minister said he found it “very complicated” to look at himself in the mirror on the day the committee’s report was presented.
‘Raw, hard, striking words’
In his press conference, the prime minister quoted words that Susan Top, former secretary of the Groninger Gasberaad and candidate deputy, spoke earlier during her interrogation with the parliamentary committee of inquiry. She said: ‘I got to know a lot of people years ago as very stable, down-to-earth and reasonable people. Over the years I just watched them get bitter. To get angry. Sad. Emotional. They just became different people.’
“Those are raw words,” said Rutte. “These are harsh words. And they are also strong words. And the report, it’s full of them. “These are also the words and stories that I heard myself. So the committee of inquiry is right when it says that the inhabitants of the earthquake area in Groningen and North Drenthe have been abandoned for decades. That they have not been heard enough and that their interests have been subordinated to the financial interests of the Netherlands. That is the thrust of the survey report. And we endorse it today without reserve in the government response.”
‘Defensible’ difference between billions of dollars
Rutte finds the difference between the amount of money that the region demanded (30 billion euros and on top of that unlimited reinforcement and repair) and the amount that the cabinet is making available (22 billion euros, including reinforcement and repair) ‘defensible’. He still has to debate the report with the House of Representatives on behalf of the cabinet. “I will also defend myself in the chamber about what the cabinet has done wrong. What we’ve been trying to do. What I did wrong, what I tried to do. But I think the most important thing now is that we are working with Groningen on the follow-up.”