by N. Peter Kramer
King Willem-Alexander of The Netherlands has responded to the unrest amongst government officials about the possible participation of the PVV (Geert Wilders’ far-right party) in the new Dutch government after the party was the clear winner in the last national parliamentary elections. Reports from The Hague speak of resistance among civil servants to working under PVV ministers. But, according to the King, on a four-day working visit to the United States, they should also be able to work under PVV cabinet members, reports De Telegraaf, the biggest newspaper in The Netherlands.
‘We have a unique civil service system’, Willem-Alexander emphasised, ‘The fact that a civil servant is loyal to whom so ever is the political boss, is a fantastic system that I strongly support. But, of course, everyone is free to look for another job if that does not suit his or her conscience. And to use his or her qualities elsewhere’.
The King agreed that with the new government a different time will dawn. ‘The Netherlands has had the same Prime Minister for fourteen years. I worked with Mark Rutte for eleven years after I succeeded my mother, Queen Beatrix. Of course it’s going to change with other people. But there also remains continuity’, he said with a meaningful look and a smile at his wife, Queen Maxima.
It is not the first time Dutch civil servants have shown their dissatisfaction with official government policy. A few months ago Foreign Affairs officials demonstrated in public against the government’s position with regard to Israel’s fight against the Palestinian terrorist organisation Hamas.
