When it became known that Cora van Nieuwenhuizen (VVD) was exchanging her ministership for the chairmanship of the influential trade association Energie-Nederland, she defended herself in front of the assembled press at the end of August 2021 against criticism of (the appearance of) a conflict of interest.
“I have never had any policy-related involvement with energy,” replied the outgoing Minister of Infrastructure and Water Management (I&W) asked whether it was desirable that she – already aware of her new lobbying job – had been involved in budget discussions during the Council of Ministers that focused a lot on energy.
Van Nieuwenhuizen also pointed to the agreements she made at the ministry that summer from the moment the switch to Energie-Nederland took effect. She agreed that “if there was any overlap” with her new job, those activities would be taken over by the State Secretary or the Minister of Economic Affairs – who is responsible for the energy sector on behalf of the cabinet. “But,” Van Nieuwenhuizen emphasized, “that did not happen.”
That fork seems to be inserted differently. Van Nieuwenhuizen joined the ministerial committee on Climate and Energy when she already knew that she would become a lobbyist for energy companies such as BP, Gasterra, Eneco, Essent and Shell. She also chaired a consultation on wind turbines in the North Sea and was involved in the possible construction of pipelines from Rotterdam to Chemelot in Limburg and to Germany.
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revealed NOS and News hour this week on the basis of documents they received through an appeal under the Open Government Act. The Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management was in no hurry with the Woo request: the response period was extended from 8 to 118 weeks, contrary to the law. is evident from the Woo decision.
‘Completely honest intention’
For Van Nieuwenhuizen, the reporting in response to the Woo documents went down the wrong way. “Many media reports are reporting rather suggestively about my participation in ministerial meetings,” she writes on LinkedIn with screenshots of her “own answers” to the written questions from NOS and Nieuwsuur.
In it, the chairman of Energie-Nederland clarifies the statement from more than two years ago about avoiding policy-related interference. This means that at the time they only included ‘relevant points [inbracht] from Infrastructure and Water Management and not in the field of energy companies or specific energy policy”.
Van Nieuwenhuizen acknowledges that she attended two meetings of the Ministerial Committee on Climate and Energy (MCKE) in August, the month of her departure as minister, but emphasizes that her input there was also limited to points from her ministry. “I have had no input into the MCKE in any way, thinking from the specific interests of my future members.”
The fact that Van Nieuwenhuizen received all kinds of documents about energy by email from the ministry, while the State Secretary was supposed to discuss this, is because a minister “often receives a cc copy of documents from the State Secretary.”
It “hurts” Van Nieuwenhuizen that despite her “completely honest intention” the appearance of a conflict of interest has arisen. According to her, the person has never been targeted so hard when a minister has transferred. She attributes this to a “perfect storm” that could arise because the call for a new administrative culture was loud at the time.
Van Nieuwenhuizen, previously VVD Member of Parliament and European Parliamentarian, was Minister of Infrastructure from October 2017 to September 2021. In 2021, she was acting Minister of Economic Affairs and Climate for five days. On July 21, Van Nieuwenhuizen informed Prime Minister Rutte that she would be leaving the outgoing cabinet because she had found a new job at Energie-Nederland. She then stayed on as minister for more than a month.
Source of inspiration for initiative note
Van Nieuwenhuizen served as one of the sources of inspiration for the initiative memorandum on measures to promote integrity among ministers by MPs Laurens Dassen (Volt) and Pieter Omtzigt (now NSC). The former minister is mentioned eighteen times the initiative note from 2022, which calls on the cabinet to take measures in this area.
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Tightening lobbying rules
The lobbying rules have now been and are being tightened slightly. In November 2021, shortly after the fuss about Van Nieuwenhuizen’s departure, the ‘lobbying ban’ that states that ministers are not allowed to lobby their own ministry for two years after their departure was expanded to include policy areas of other ministries in which ministers had active involvement.
At the end of last year, the Council of Ministers approved a bill that, among other things, stipulates that former ministers who want to work in the business community within two years of their term of office must request advice from an independent committee. That bill is before the Council of State for advice.
In the meantime, Van Nieuwenhuizen also has a tip for former ministers. “Hopefully my successors can learn from my experiences and will avoid contact with headhunters until they have actually been dismissed to avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest.”