Today’s debate is not with then minister Hugo de Jonge, but with his successor and responsible welfare minister Conny Helder. Political journalist Mats Akkerman calls it a deal “that nobody wanted, but it came anyway.”
To not
For those who missed it: During the pandemic, the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport bought masks for 100 million euros from Sywert van Lienden and his partners at the Stichting Hulptroepen Alliantie. While ministry officials were adamantly against it and even the National Resources Consortium believed the deal was unnecessary – according to the consortium, the government had already mastered the fire. Though Sywert and his companions swore they did it “for nothing,” they made a fortune out of it.
power play
‘The question most MPs are asking is: how did this agreement come about? The fact that the agreement has arrived is seen as a kind of power play by Minister Hugo de Jonge. Deloitte concluded that the ministry was decisive, so the MPs’ input is: who was decisive in the ministry? Was it Hugo de Jonge? Which doesn’t help much: almost everyone involved in the deal was a member of the CDA. According to Agema, this reeks of favoritism.