Prime Minister Mark Rutte has personally tried to stop an investigation into Dutch support for Syrian rebels. Sources within three different coalition parties say this News hour.
The House has been talking about such an investigation into the so-called NLA program for two years. Rutte is said to have spoken out against an investigation of the facts in the Council of Ministers. He is also alleged to have asked various ministers to let their groups know that he does not want the investigation to take place.
At the weekly press conference this afternoon, Rutte did not want to provide any further details about the matter:
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‘I meddle in so many things, but I can’t go into that in detail’
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Unveiled two years ago News hour and Trouw that the cabinet had for years supported armed rebels in Syria who violated human rights and cooperated with terrorists. The cabinet provided them with hundreds of pick-up trucks, satellite equipment and uniforms, among other things. The House had been promised all along that only ‘moderate’, democratic groups would receive support and that it would be civilian goods.
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After the publications, all coalition parties agreed to the motion-Omtzigt. That motion called for an independent fact-finding investigation into the program and the development of a so-called ‘assessment framework’ for the future. The advisory bodies AIV and the CAVV have been appointed for this purpose. Now, two years later, there is an assessment framework, but it never came to a factual investigation.
CDA and ChristenUnie want the fact-finding out to be carried out after all, and they served another one this month motion in. Minister Blok advised against the proposal. He says an investigation will lead to “big problems” because “a lot of the information is confidential”. It would also create “tensions” among “allies” involved in the aid program, Blok believes. “They will react uncomfortably if they are also questioned along the Dutch route,” said the Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Stemming
The motion has been suspended for the time being, but will be put to the vote shortly. It is unclear whether the motion to investigate the support program will still win a majority. When the House asked for an investigation two years ago, the VVD still supported it. But Rutte has reportedly even asked the ministers of the submitting parties (CDA and ChristenUnie) to let their groups know that he wants the motion to be withdrawn. Despite this, the political groups have not withdrawn the motion, but the question is what consequences Rutte’s pressure will have on support in the rest of the House.
It is not clear why the prime minister is so personally opposed to the investigation. The NLA program was a program that still has many questions. News hour and Trouw revealed that several groups received Dutch support, but the bulk of the total of 22 groups supported are still unknown. MPs were given information about the program after signing a nondisclosure agreement, but were not allowed to speak about it in public. Independent experts have not been able to access this information to date.
Nieuwsuur and Trouw spent months researching the state-secret NLA program, with which the Netherlands supplied millions of euros worth of logistics equipment to Syrian fighting groups in recent years. View the overview of their search and revelations and all developments here:
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