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🇳🇱 Netherlands /Elections & Politics

Coronavirus inquiry has ‘a great deal to ask’ former Prime Minister Mark Rutte, prompting a second appearance

From NRC Handelsblad · () Dutch

Translated from Dutch and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources Ongoing story
  • Former Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte will testify for a second time before the parliamentary inquiry into the coronavirus response.
  • His first hearing covered school closures, the curfew, fears of a hospital capacity crisis and Cabinet decision-making during the pandemic.
  • The second hearing will focus mainly on lessons for governing during a future pandemic, while Ernst Kuipers will also testify again later in the week.

Mark Rutte will return to the coronavirus inquiry after telling investigators in his first hearing that the Netherlands narrowly avoided a far worse crisis in the pandemic’s opening weeks.

After three hours of testimony in June, the former prime minister leaned toward the microphone and said, “Thank you,” before adding, “until the next conversation.” On Monday at 10 a.m., he will again take his seat in the parliamentary inquiry commission’s chamber at the Dutch parliament in The Hague.

Thank you, until the next conversation.

· Mark RutteRutte ended his first testimony by indicating that he would return for another hearing.

As prime minister during the pandemic, Rutte led a Cabinet that imposed sweeping measures, including school closures and a curfew. Commission chairman Daan de Kort said at the start of the first hearing that it had “a great deal to ask” Rutte.

a great deal to ask

· Daan de KortThe inquiry chairman described the commission’s questions for Rutte at the start of his first hearing.

Rutte said the country had “narrowly escaped” catastrophe during the first weeks of the crisis. Hospitals came close to running out of intensive-care capacity, raising the prospect of a “code black” in which patients would have died outside hospitals. He also discussed the Catshuis meetings, where ministers gathered to consider new restrictions. Those meetings left room for “extreme” ideas, he said, including giving certain groups priority for vaccinations.

The former prime minister addressed criticism that the Cabinet listened too heavily to the Outbreak Management Team and not enough to other experts. The government was “constantly wrestling” with the balance between measures to contain the virus and their effects on society, he said. “It is not the case that the Cabinet simply stamped whatever the OMT advised.”

narrowly escaped

· Mark RutteRutte described how close the Netherlands came to a severe hospital capacity crisis at the start of the pandemic.

While the first hearing looked back at the crisis, the second will focus on “looking ahead” and how governments should operate during a future pandemic. Ernst Kuipers, an intensive-care doctor who later became a minister, will also appear for a second hearing during the commission’s ninth and final week. The final testimony will come from OMT member Anja Schreijer, then head of infectious-disease control at GGD Amsterdam.

It is not the case that the Cabinet simply stamped whatever the OMT advised.

· Mark RutteRutte responded to criticism that the government followed the Outbreak Management Team too closely.
About this summary

Originally published by NRC Handelsblad in Dutch. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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