This is why there is so much ado about Princess Laurentien and her foundation.
This is why there is so much ado about Princess Laurentien and her foundation.
Princess Laurentien and the Ministry of Finance have openly clashed about how to handle the benefits affair.
TEXT ELLA VERMEULENIMAGE RENE MANDERS/DCI MEDIA31 MAY 2024
It undoubtedly comes from a good heart and is motivated by the best intentions, but it is unprecedented for a member of the Royal House to clash with the Ministry of Finance as much as in recent days.
WHAT IS GOING ON?
Princess Laurentien is the founder of the Foundation (Equal) Worthy Recovery (SGH). It focuses on helping people who are in a bind because of the benefits affair. Laurentien proposed a method where the parents can tell their story first and then calculate the damage suffered.
CHECK LIST
The “rough” approach of the Foundation (Equal) worthy Recovery (SGH) set up by Princess Laurentien was tried out with around three hundred victims last year. The idea behind it is for parents to tell their own story, after which experts use a kind of checklist with fixed amounts per claim to determine how much additional damage they have suffered.
TRUST
“The more devastating the effect of unjust recoveries, the higher the amount of damage,” says Laurentien, who based her approach “on trust rather than mistrust.” Victims felt heard by the method and were able to move on with their lives more quickly.
COSTS ARE INCREASING
The problem, however, is that Laurentien's method appears to cost billions more than was budgeted. That is why the Ministry of Finance is stepping on the brakes. Lack of transparency about the calculations also resulted in criticism. Expenses for the damage repair operation were still estimated at 500 million euros in 2020. 9 billion euros are already assumed, and Finance believes that the bill could further rise to 14 billion euros. In addition, damages that are not related to the benefits scandal would sometimes be reimbursed.
PEPPERY LETTER
Actually, Finance would like to intervene harder, but according to those involved, that is difficult because someone from the royal family is involved. Laurentien would not be susceptible to criticism, can be heard at the ministry, and also prefers to only have contact with the Secretary of State or high-ranking officials, reports the Telegraph. After a critical review of the method, the ministry received a peppery letter in return: the comments were “factually incorrect, incomplete and suggestive”.
LAURENTIEN'S RESPONSE
The princess was understandably unhappy about stopping the pilot and showed this in a video: “Are we going to go back to the logic of the system that started it all?”
“We don't want to put you in the position of having to prove your innocence again,” she told affected parents in the thirteen-minute video. “Because that's the deepest trauma this is about, you always tell us.”
The princess said she still sees an important role for the foundation in the recovery operation. “We are confident that we can start scaling up,” the princess said in the video. “Our goal remains unchanged”.
CABINET RESPONSIBLE
It's not often that a member of the Royal House is so outspoken. In addition, the cabinet is ministerially responsible for the actions of members of the Royal House. Because the princess goes against the ministry, the cabinet is therefore responsible for it.
SUPPORT FROM CONSTANTINE
Prince Constantijn stood up for his wife by expressing his dissatisfaction on LinkedIn. “Looks like Groningen,” he wrote in a message that has now been deleted. “What kind of world do we live in where a high payment to victims is a 'financial hardship', but not the sky-high costs of consultants and experts trying to downplay the damage suffered by the victims.” According to the Government Information Service, this was “not an expression of the Royal House”.
HOW TO PROCEED?
As mentioned, the outgoing cabinet sees snags with the SGH method to compensate those affected by the childcare allowance scandal. In order to keep the results of this method traceable and explainable, adjustments are necessary. This is what outgoing Secretary of State Aukje de Vries (Allowances) reports to the House of Representatives.
About Laurentien's video message, De Vries says: “I think it shows that she is very involved.” She calls on the foundation to work together to “further shape” this approach to damage repair.
JUST THIS
Compensation according to the usual route via the Commission for Actual Damage is slow. At a rate of four cases per week, five hundred claims were settled in four years. Six thousand affected parents have appealed.
Nearly 69,000 parents have reported as victims of the benefits affair. In a first screening, more than 35,000 of them were recognized as victims. Most of them received 30,000 euros through an initial, rough arrangement, plus reimbursement of too many recovered surcharges and cancellation of public debts. More than 95,000 children have received an amount of up to 10,000 euros as a “helping hand”.
There is also an arrangement for former partners and relatives of deceased allowance parents. Furthermore, victims can come to municipalities for help, even if it is not certain that they were actually duped. The problem mainly lies with victims who still have additional damage, from an aborted course, forced relocation, dismissal or mental distress.
Sources: Telegraph, ANP
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