Cabinet crisis as State Secretary resigns due to racist comments

The Dutch cabinet found itself in crisis on Friday afternoon after a state secretary resigned, apparently because of discriminatory comments made by other ministers during Monday’s cabinet meeting.

Nora Achahbar, an NSC minister charged with arranging the compensation scheme for the child benefit scandal, was reportedly shocked by the “extremely racist language” used by the other three parties in the right-wing coalition when discussing the violence in Amsterdam last week.

Ministers and the leaders of the three other coalition parties – the far-right PVV, the pro-rural BBB and the VVD – have been quick to blame young people with Moroccan roots for the attacks on Israeli football fans and others in Amsterdam after the Ajax Maccabi Tel Aviv game.

Prime Minister Dick Schoof has also spoken of an ‘integration problem’ in the Netherlands, and does not rule out that people with dual nationality who have been convicted of anti-Semitism on terrorism grounds will have their Dutch passports revoked on terrorism grounds – as the other three parties had asked.

According to the ADOther NSC ministers are also considering resigning, including Judith Uitermark, the current Minister of the Interior. The four leaders of the coalition parties were summoned on Friday evening for crisis discussions in the Prime Minister’s official residence, the Catshuis.

“Insiders think that the end of the cabinet is in sight,” says RTL correspondent Fons Lambie. “The cabinet meeting was stopped and the ministers sat together with their own party members waiting to see what would happen. It all depends on whether the NSC continues to support the government or not.”

Meanwhile, opposition party leaders have said they want the Cabinet to publish the minutes of Monday’s meeting to find out exactly what was said. The minutes of cabinet meetings are only made public after twenty years.

Achahbar, 42, was born in Morocco and has a law degree. She was a public prosecutor for several years and previously worked as a lawyer. She is the second NSC minister to resign. Earlier this month, the Minister of Taxes said Folkert Idsinga stopped after coalition partner PVV joined the call to reveal more about its investments.