Unmasked as a liar – “Teflon-Mark” before the case

This time it’s serious for Mark Rutte, this time he probably won’t get away with it. “Teflon-Mark” is what they call the politician who has ruled the Netherlands for ten years and was re-elected for the third time two weeks ago. Because he was always very adept at putting political adventures and mistakes behind him, blaming others, and moving on. But this time something will get stuck.

Rutte is knee-deep in the quagmire of an almost absurd scandal, which is unusual by Dutch standards and involves secret deals and cabal in the formation of the new government and the attempt to remove an uncomfortable politician. The accusation: Rutte lied, and deliberately. The affair has been bothering the country for days and culminated in an already historic parliamentary session on Thursday, in which Rutte was literally put on the torture stake. In the end, as opposition leader Geert Wilders put it, he had “twelve knives in his back.” The probability that Rutte will resign or be forced to resign is high. Not just because the prime minister was exposed in black and white as a liar. But because, what is worse, he does not admit the lie, he does not call it a lie at all, but “falsehood”, and he takes refuge in the classic way out: the emptiness of memory.

As sometimes happens, it begins with a stupid coincidence. This coincidence is a press photographer who photographed a politician leaving a building a week ago. It is the Interior Minister, Kajsa Ollongren, of the left-wing liberal party D66. Together with a colleague, he is supposed to hold talks with the parliamentary leaders of the major parties as a “prober” to sound out the prospects for a new governing coalition. Ollongren has just learned that he has contracted the coronavirus. He leaves the parliament building in a hurry, with a pile of papers. In one of them there are notes that can be seen in the photo below. It’s kind of a slip, an assessment of the situation after the talks: who wants what, who is ready for what engagement, things like that. The notes are honest and personal. And therefore it is definitely not intended for the public.

Whirlwind over MP Pieter Omtzigt

There is one line in particular that sends shock waves through The Hague: “positie Omtzigt, functie elderly.” Roughly translated it means you have to find a “different role” for colleague Omtzigt. Or, more clearly, that Omtzigt has to be “dropped” or “praised” in some way. The Christian Democrat Pieter Omtzigt is one of the most interesting and at the same time most controversial politicians in the country, someone who loves the truth, who sometimes breaks the rules, a daredevil, an inconvenience. Omtzigt is there where it hurts: in the Council of Europe he tried to clear up the Azerbaijani government’s bribery attempts, to which the Christian Democrats in particular were presumably susceptible. He has investigated the dubious background to the murder of Maltese blogger Daphne Caruana Galizia. And as a member of parliament, he was instrumental in exposing the scandal over the childcare subsidy, which the Dutch state wrongly and mercilessly claimed from thousands of families, ultimately leading to the collective resignation of the Rutte government in January.

All this has made Omtzigt one of the most popular politicians in the country, as can be seen from the more than 300,000 personal votes he obtained in the last elections. In parliament and in his own party, however, he is controversial: because he is not a team player, but a solo political artist, someone with whom you can never be sure whether he will stay on the party line. It’s like the proverbial “loose cannon” wobbling across the deck and damaging the ship. Like a sword of Damocles looming over Rutte, who has to face further clarification on the issue of child benefits, but also over Christian Democratic leader Wopke Hoekstra, who fears Omtzigt as a strong competitor within the party.

So there is widespread interest in firing MP Omtzigt, one reason. The two investigators had to resign immediately after the notes were released. However, Rutte claimed in two television interviews that the conversations had never been about Omtzigt and that his name was not mentioned at all. He also recommended that the matter be left alone. It is confidential and secret, so no one will comment on it, that’s right, you have to accept it.

Rutte’s impudence infuriated members of the House of Commons. The wave of anger grew until the right-wing liberal had to give in to the overwhelming desire for a parliamentary debate on the incident. It was also the first meeting of the newly elected MPs. It was postponed one day so that the two scouts and their 19 interlocutors had a chance to reveal all the notes.

Then yes. Caught

The notes collected were published at eleven in the morning, they hit like a bomb. It was clearly stated there: Omtzigt was being discussed, and it was even thought of giving him a cabinet position. Then yes. Caught. When everyone realized what had happened, Parliament looked like a bunch of excited chickens for a moment. “What is happening here is scandalous,” said Sylvana Simons, a newcomer to parliament from the Bij1 party. “Starting the legislative period in this way is inconceivable.”

Rutte apologized in parliament. But he did not lie, rather “he remembered badly”, which he deeply regrets. He gave information to the media “to the best of his knowledge and belief.” Presumably, aside from exploratory conversations, it was Omtzigt in private. Other than that, he personally has no reason to speak of a possible eulogy for Omtzigt.

The opposition reacted with the sharpest indignation, almost falling on Rutte. Everyone said that he was “completely untrustworthy,” that he brought shame to the house, that the “arrogance of power” was revealed here. “I really don’t know what I just heard,” said socialist Lilian Marijektiven. “Dutch politics are sick, they are terminally ill,” Wilders said: “We cannot go on with a prime minister who lies cold.” Rutte has a “nose like a pinocchio from here to South America.” Left-wing liberal Sigrid Kaag referred to earlier incidents in which Rutte suggested gaps in her memory and spoke of a “pattern of forgetfulness and amnesia. How do you intend to regain confidence in the biggest crisis in the Netherlands? Make up for the damage? Green Jesse Klaver recalled the Watergate scandal and Richard Nixon’s famous phrase: “I am not a criminal”, I am not a criminal.

For a long afternoon, Rutte stood amid the barrage of criticism, not a single voice was found to defend him. To make matters worse, apparently Rutte had been informed in advance about the explosive content of the new post. He knew it “from hearsay,” he said at first, only to later admit that a source he could not name had informed him at 7:30 in the morning.

Omtzigt suffers from exhaustion

Investigators are due to give their opinion Thursday night. And at some point you also wanted to vote. If the prime minister loses what is in sight, it will mean the end of his political career. The long era of Rutte would end.

Although most of it was about him, Omtzigt was not present at Thursday’s debate. He’s been suffering from exhaustion for a long time, giving the clique, which is generally perceived as brutal and tacky, an added spicy note. Although he has prescribed a phase of total abstinence from the media, he gave a spontaneous interview on Wednesday shortly before he was sworn in as a member of parliament. What they have planned with him is “an insult to the Dutch voters.” He rolled his eyes as he did so, looking like a hunted animal. His last sentence, almost pleading, to the pressured journalists was: “I would like you to leave me alone for a while.”

Posted today at 8:59 pm

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