The text messages that Prime Minister Rutte has removed from his telephone in recent years can no longer be traced via the telephone provider. He wrote this in a letter to the House of Representatives. In it he also writes that the media reports that his old phone could only store twenty text messages are incorrect.
De Volkskrant reported yesterday that Rutte has been single-handedly for years text messages deleted on his old Nokia phone. At his own discretion, he forwarded messages he deemed relevant to officials for archiving. He himself says that he “never knowingly” withheld important matters or that he deleted messages to prevent them from coming into the public eye after an appeal to the Public Information Act (WOB).
The House has reacted indignantly to the Prime Minister’s approach. At the initiative of GroenLinks leader Klaver, there is a debate about the issue this morning. Other opposition members are also not convinced of the good intentions that Rutte said he had. The government parties also support the request for the debate.
‘Phone got slower’
Klaver thought that “everything should be done” to retrieve the deleted messages from Rutte via the telephone provider. In his letter to parliament, Rutte now writes that his provider has announced that the text messages cannot be traced. “These messages are not stored. The provider only stores so-called metadata for billing purposes for a period of several months.”
It can also be read that Rutte’s phone was able to store more than twenty text messages. “But my old Nokia phone slowed down as more messages were stored in it,” he writes.
The prime minister also sums up what he did with relevant text messages. “I send text messages that are important for managerial decision-making to or in cc to the employee most involved. The employee then saves the text message. I read long messages that I could not forward, I paraphrased or gave up outlines to employees”, which he believed acted according to the guidelines.
Rutte also said yesterday that he thinks he has complied with the rules:
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