The Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Mark Rutte, admitted today that for years he deleted some of the messages he received on his mobile phone and gave only those that he considered important for safekeeping in state records.
The opposition questioned the legitimacy of Rutte’s actions and called for a public debate on the issue.
This “habit” of the prime minister was first revealed by the newspaper De Volkskrant, as part of an investigation into Rutte’s actions at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic.
At a news conference in The Hague today, he denied any wrongdoing and said that part of the reason he deleted the messages was that until recently he was using an old Nokia phone without much memory, which forced him to delete them.
“I’m not much of a smartphone,” he commented, but clarified that he now has such a “smart” phone.
Rutte said that while important communications between government officials must be guarded, it is not his responsibility to guard them. “The instructions say that it is left to each person personally, so I decide for myself if a message is important. This means in practice that I do not send for archiving anything personal, nor messages that say “pick up the phone” or “the appointment is postponed”, but when there is something that has content, then I send it “for safekeeping, he explained.
Opposition leaders Atie Kuiken’s Labor Party and Green Left Party leader Jesse Klaver called for the issue to be debated in parliament, with Klauer tweeting that Rutte’s actions could be against the law. Far-right MP Heert Wilders said Rutte’s government should be “removed”.
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