During a debate on the issue, Halsema convinced the city council on Wednesday afternoon that there was no question of favoritism and that enough had been set in motion to prevent a recurrence. Halsema said she regrets the situation that has arisen, at the same time she continued to defend Booij as the most suitable candidate for the job.
Booij was appointed in 2019 to organize the celebration of 750 years of Amsterdam against payment of 10,000 euros per month. Booij is an acquaintance of the mayor. His expertise as a driver of cultural projects meant that he was awarded this contract privately. Due to municipal errors, the appointment as a self-employed person then continued until 2022, as a result of which his earnings threatened to exceed the European tender limit of 214,000 euros. Once studentenblad Personal Cures brought this to light, Booij had to stop working immediately. Due to the amount of Booij’s compensation, his personal relationship with the mayor and the many mistakes made during his appointment the issue grew into a major riot with a lot of image damage for those involved.
Shame of favoritism
Halsema acknowledged on Wednesday that she should have been more wary of the appearance of favoritism when appointing Booijs. “I can agree with the resulting image that you think that the intuition should have been different.”
Almost all parties in the council acknowledged that there had been no favouritism when Booij was appointed, as Halsema has always said. “I see that the mayor has taken this very seriously. As a councilor, I have never had so many promises to prevent this in the future,” said VVD councilor Marianne Poot.
The fact that the largest opposition party draws this conclusion means that a large majority of the council does not regard the Booij issue as a deliberate decision by the mayor, but an unfortunate coincidence. “I have faith in the mayor’s intentions,” said PvdA councilor Dennis Boutkan.
However, many parties insisted that more political sensitivity is needed if the mayor appoints someone you know, because mistakes or lack of clarity damage trust in politics. “The mayor has stayed within the limits,” said councilor Tjitske Kuiper (CU). “More importantly, what is the image that sticks? This is a scratch on what should be a great party.”
As transparent as possible
Unlike last week when the mayor was not satisfied with the officials who had arranged Booij’s appointment, Halsema asked for their understanding on Wednesday. “In defense of the officials, I would like to say that the pandemic broke out during the time of Booijs’ appointment. People partly worked from home, many were preoccupied by corona. It’s not an excuse, but it helps to understand why things went so messy.”
Halsema has promised that she will always fulfill these types of positions, even if the candidates come from her network, in the future as transparently as possible and through a public procedure. The new program director for Amsterdam 750 years will also be hired as a civil servant if possible, the mayor Halsema once again promised. “An image has emerged that is completely at odds with my intentions. (…) This makes me, looking back, really fed up with what happened.”
However, alderman Rutger Groot Wassink (purchase) warned that the current economic circumstances force the municipality to do more, instead of less staff to hire as a self-employed person† According to him, the scarcity on the labor market is currently regularly abused.
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