Not only legal crap, but also ethically reprehensible

Derk Venema Published on January 5, 2024Reading time1 minute Reading listThe outgoing chairman of the Administrative Justice Department of the Council of State, Bart Jan van Ettekoven, expresses concerns about the future government's handling of the rule of law in an interview in NRC (“Politics sets course less sharply”, 30/12). But the way he talks about the Benefits scandal also seriously concerns me as a lawyer and lecturer in judicial ethics. He once again uncontested repeats his repeatedly refuted accusation to the legislator: “The law was tough” and left “no room for weighing interests”. This is demonstrably wrong: the law did not specify the circumstances under which circumstances how much allowance had to be recovered. The tax authorities were therefore able to decide that themselves: for all types of accountability deficiencies, fraud or not, all the allowance was recovered. By definition, this is disproportionate and foreseeably disastrous for the parents. The Department of Administrative Justice, the Supreme Administrative Court, then acted in its rulings as if the tax authorities had no other legal option, even though the judges knew that was untrue. Later, the Department tried to cover this in every possible way. And why — to be able to let the tax authorities do its unreasonable business unhindered? This is not only legal nonsense, but also ethically reprehensible. The judges' code of conduct emphasizes the judge's task “to make a just decision even when strict application of the law seems to prevent it”. There was no law in the way here. Lower judges had issued an insistent warning. Only when all the misery came out into the open and there was a threat of image damage, did the Department slowly and partially reverse its steps. That is the opposite of courage. In addition, a judge who goes to such lengths to cover up unjust government policy lacks an independent, unbiased attitude. If these views of the former chairman are representative of the Department, I hold my heart. Or are they just the reason for his early departure? Derk VenemawijchenA version of this article also appeared in the newspaper of January 5, 2024.