MEP D66 wants criminal proceedings against the Netherlands over benefits affair

D66 MEP Samira Rafaela wants the European Commission to start criminal proceedings against the Netherlands over the benefits affair. According to her, the “institutional racism” that emerged in that affair is in violation of European laws and treaties. Hanneke Keultjes and David HielkemaFebruary 2, 2021, 12:30

Prime Minister Rutte at the interrogation by the Parliamentary Committee that found “unprecedented injustice” in its report. Image: ANPThree European Commissioners received a letter calling on them to “evaluate” whether criminal proceedings should be brought against the Netherlands for “a potential violation of EU law”. The sender of the document to the Commissioners for Equality, Justice and Values and Transparency is Samira Rafaela, D66 MEP, who sent the letter on behalf of Ardi, the anti-racism group in the European Parliament and three Dutch anti-discrimination organizations. “I want the Netherlands to be tapped on the wrist and experience the consequences.” The reason is the benefits affair, where the tax authorities wrongly marked thousands of parents as fraudsters for years. They had to repay the surcharges received, resulting in major financial problems. The parliamentary committee that investigated the affair stated in December that the parents had been “unjustly wronged” and that the “fundamental principles of the rule of law” were violated. The tax authorities often made extra checks on people with a second nationality, while the Data Protection Authority (AP) concluded last year that nationality should not play a role in assessing an application for childcare allowance. According to the AP, by including that data, the tax authorities acted unlawfully and discriminatory.Hard conclusionsInvestigations into discrimination are still ongoing by the tax authorities. Rafaela did not want to wait for the results. “The evidence that now exists, including the firm conclusions in the final report of the Parliamentary Interrogation Committee, is clear enough.” However, the words discrimination or racism do not appear in that final report. Yet Rafaela speaks of “institutional racism”. “This is not only in violation of Article 1 of our Constitution, but also in violation of EU treaties and rules.” The European Commission can initiate a type of criminal procedure against European Union member states that do not comply with European rules. This so-called infringement procedure is a powerful tool to enforce that a country still complies with European laws. “I want to go for the maximum,” says Rafaela. It is remarkable that an MEP is calling for such a case against their own country. Even because the Netherlands has already asked the Council of Europe to investigate what went wrong with how citizens are here because of the government. behandeld.Dat sees her own party D66 as partly responsible, Rafaela does not see it as an obstacle. During Rutte III's cabinet term, in which party leader Sigrid Kaag is minister, the scandal continued and its scale came to light. The party summit was not informed beforehand that Rafaela would send her letter. “As a politician, and given my own experiences of discrimination, I find it insufferable that my own member state is guilty of this.” She is “very concerned” about the benefits affair. “That also applies to my party. Precisely because it concerns the Netherlands, I thought I should do this.” For the D66 politician, the deciding factor was that no one at the tax authorities would be prosecuted. With a possible infringement procedure, she wants to “pull out all the stops” to acknowledge parents' pain and prevent such “injustice” in the future.Future GenerationsThe names of anti-discrimination organizations DeGoede¬zaak, S.P.E.A.K. and Control Alt Delete are also included under the letter, partly to give European injustice a face. “We see that the government has not yet realized that agencies that work with risk profiles that include nationality or ethnicity discriminate,” says Dionne Abdoelhafiezkhan of Control Alt Delete. Hajar Fallah of S.P.E.A.K. states that this should also be a signal not to “exclude future generations”. “Especially with the advent of artificial intelligence, it is necessary to remove ethnicity and origin from risk profiles to prevent this gripping injustice.” The European Commission is launching infringement procedures against countries more often to force them to comply with EU rules. It also started such a procedure against the Netherlands sixteen times in 2019, according to the Europa Decentraal knowledge center. They are usually related to violations of internal market, transport or environmental rules. The best-known example of such cases is proceedings recently filed against Poland and Hungary. In those countries, the independence of the judiciary is being compromised, press freedom is under pressure and LGBTQ rights are being curbed. Rafaela: “If those countries have to stop discrimination, the Netherlands must do the same. If there is one member state that should lead by example, it is the Netherlands. Let's be honest: it's also true that we didn't get our act together.”D66 does not want to commentA spokesperson for Secretary of State Alexandra van Huffelen (Allowances, D66) says that it is up to the European Commissioners to respond to Rafaela's letter. “The Secretary of State has always been clear about discrimination: that is not possible, is not allowed, and certainly not with the government.” According to the spokesperson, it is' good 'that the file is also being 'viewed from Europe'. D66 does not want to respond to the letter that the D66 MEP sent to European Commissioners.

Samira Rafaela STATUE BY IVO VAN DER BENT