The Netherlands was already showing signs of democratic decline before the corona crisis. The Benefits Affair turned out to be only the prelude to a total unmasking under pressure from the corona crisis. The systemic rot is much, much deeper. Totalitarian elements are creeping into our governments. Our past of polder, trust in the government and of course our commercial spirit - where you sometimes have to turn a blind eye when something is at the expense of someone else - have partly led to an inattentive culture in which administrators can do their thing. The danger is that we can all ultimately benefit from their scheming, so oh well...
Roger Vleugels in Café Weltschmerz
On the eve of the corona crisis, in October 2019, Café Weltschmerz posted an interview with Wob specialist Roger Vleugels. It is worth watching this unfortunately somewhat slow interview. The video is at the bottom of this blog. How the government handles Wob requests can be seen as an indicator of the openness of information and decision-making processes. Control is gone. The dysfunction of inspections, supervisors, knowledge institutes - in short, the failure of the self-correcting government system takes on grotesque proportions when you see what the government is doing.
Wob stands for 'Public Access to Government Act'. The law guaranteeseveryonethe possibility of requesting information about an administrative matter from an administrative body. See Wikipedia
Wob or flop
Andere landen verwerken makkelijk tien maal zoveel Wob-verzoeken per hoofd van de bevolking, dat is lopende band werk. In Nederland hebben ambtenaren het te druk, vragen ze uitstel, werken in "deelbehandelingen", kortom: er wordt op allerlei manieren getraineerd, gesaboteerd, ontmoedigd en tegengewerkt. Ambtenaren krijgen er les in obstructie van Wob-verzoeken. De Minister van Volksgezondheid schakelt juristen in om onder Wob-verzoeken uit te kunnen komen. Het is ronduit een schandaal. De wettelijke termijn is vier weken terwijl een Wob-procedure in de praktijk twee jaar kan duren en eigenlijk niet te volbrengen is zonder hulp van professionele Wob-gespecialiseerde juristen.
NL underperforms: a sneaky government
The Netherlands is small enough to stay under the radar internationally. We have a Scandinavian reputation for transparency, an open society with a flat structure and effective deocracy. Nothing could be further from the truth: we are in the lower part of the country ranking in terms of handling FOI requests.
In andere landen is deze "Freedom of Information Act" sinds de jaren zestig een essentieel instrument ter bescherming van de burger tegen de overheid, steeds verder verankerd in de wet. In Nederland is de Openbaarheid van Bestuur ontmanteld tot een dood paard waar altijd met veel inspanning en langdurig aan getrokken moet worden, en nog vaak zonder resultaat ook. Het door de overheid afschermen van informatie via protocollen en instanties is eerder regel dan uitzondering. Er heerst een arrogantie in Den Haag die samenlevingen al eerder fataal is geweest. De burger is eigenlijk maar lastig. Nu klinkt dat dramatisch en het loopt vast zo'n vaart niet - maar waarom niet elk totalitair signaal in de kiem smoren?
It is understandable that directors fail; they are only human. The fact that advisors structurally cover up errors is becoming more difficult. That they are surrounded by a culture that covers up and defends everything, that is deadly. Media, which could dig into this, have been taken over as government propaganda channels. Critical investigative journalism is dead in the Netherlands, especially compared to English-speaking countries. This will also have to do with our small distribution area, which means that thorough research is simply too expensive. Foreign developments are selectively filtered by the same media. That also masks their own incompetence.
We are without civil protection against the government
The last thing to hold on to should be the judiciary. However, this functions as a government legal profession. Fundamental rights, human rights, civil rights: the Dutch courts cannot test them, unlike the countries around us. Dutch judges only review against government (emergency) laws. Procedures that normally take weeks or months can be completed in a few hours, if it suits the government.
This means that this line of defence also disappears. Who is actually protecting the citizen? The Netherlands does not have a constitutional court that could still test against fundamental rights. There is simply no protection of the citizen against mistakes by the government. That should come from Inspectorates, Supervisors, a critical member of the House of Representatives, alert watchdogs in the media. All silenced.
A nice example is that the government remains a customer of State Attorney Pels Rijcken despite the malpractice there, also at the expense of the taxpayer (Source: NRC). Er is op de hoogste niveaus geld weggemaakt en fraude gepleegd - ook in dossiers van de overheid. Een "geraffineerd frauduleus handelende" bestuursvoorzitter (een van de partners die ook als notaris functioneerde) liet miljoenen euro's verdwijnen na fraude met tientallen dossiers. Dat kan. Maar het bestuur wist dus nergens van. De boekhouders en accountants, interne en externe controllers, zaten kennelijk te slapen.
Such a company also has supervisory directors, a Supervisory Board, you might say. How does that work? As I know them, they walk along with each other and turn a blind eye here and there. If that is not the case, someone can explain how this dysfunction works.
De overheid blijft in elk geval klant van de landsadvocaat "uit een oogpunt van vertrouwelijkheid en uniformiteit in de behandeling". Ze willen kennelijk graag opgelicht blijven worden en wat ze met 'vertrouwelijkheid' bedoelen klinkt in elk geval niet als een streven naar Openbaarheid van Bestuur.
Het fenomeen "Wij van WC-eend" wordt steeds legendarischer, niet alleen bij instituten met toezichthoudende functies en Inspecties, die toch onafhankelijk moeten kunnen opereren. Ze zijn echter meestal een verlengstuk van degenen die ze moeten controleren en dus niet onafhankelijk. Te kritisch? Baan kwijt.
"Als de Inspectie Gezondheidszorg een besluit neemt, moet dat éérst langs de Minister."
Roger Vleugels, Wob specialist
The guardian of scientific integrity is also up to the armpit in it
See also the KNAW, which can be seen as a guardian of the ethical practice of science. They award a medal of honour to a scientist who appears to be averse not only to advancing insight but also to scientific progress. He persists in mistakes made earlier and sins on several fronts against the principles of scientific integrity formulated by the KNAW, resulting in indescribable reputational damage to science and damage to citizens and society. His method is a black box. It is incomprehensible that such a person is not corrected.
Ombudsman
What else do we have in the Netherlands as a supervisory protector of the citizen, in addition to the media, the House of Representatives and disabled judges? The Ombudsman...? Has it actually made itself heard in the past year? Here are the topics on their website:
- Tax and Customs Administration: Rent Allowance, Healthcare Allowance, Childcare Allowance, Tax Return, Digital Mail...
- CBR: Health certificate, Course and examination of fitness to drive, Driving test...
- CJIB: paying, compensation measures, traffic fine...
- DUO: Student debt, Student finance, Public transport card, Abroad, Integration...
- Municipality: Passport, Report, Permits, Electric car charging station, Zoning plan...
Not a trace of urgency, of violation of civil rights nor of medical discrimination etc. Only attention to self-employed people who did not receive their support and related derivative matters.
Biggest concern: our knowledge institutes know nothing about it
So where are our highly-paid knowledge institutes? Knowledge institute RIVM has already received the necessary attention in other blogs. Knowledge institute KNMI pulled the call De Nieuwe Wereld, to no avail. In all kinds of areas, knowledge teams are meeting on various floors of government buildings. Everything in the service of the citizen, at least that is the message. The website Care Guide provides information:
"De kennisinstituten Zorg en Welzijn hebben vijf jaar subsidie ontvangen van het ministerie van Volksgezondheid, Welzijn en Sport (VWS) om kennis te verzamelen, verrijken en te verspreiden." De bedoelde kennis is geautoriseerd door het VWS. Op de websites is in elk geval niets strijdigs te vinden. Het zijn dus verkapte propagandamachines; communicatiebureaus voor het beleid.
MOSAIC – for knowledge, advice and solutions in the field of social development, social care and social safety. MOVISIE also supports various citizens' initiatives, volunteer organizations and professional organizations.
OK. Is society developing so well then? Social safety, are we satisfied with that? Social Care, didn't we expect some red flags from that somewhere in the past year?
Vilans – strengthening the quality and efficiency of long-term care in terms of social participation and quality of life.
Are long-term care workers satisfied with how they are being treated? Have they had a voice - have they been considered at all? What is their quality of life like? For fun, take a look at the recommended corona prevention measures of this National Knowledge Network. The last update is from November 2020, more than six months ago and is a copy/paste from the rivm site. Who really takes the health of this particularly vulnerable target group to heart?
Netherlands Youth Institute (NJi) – knowledge network for the upbringing and development of young people. The NJi strives to promote the quality of care and services to young people and their parents/guardians.
De ontwikkeling van jeugdigen krijgt toch wel een behoorlijke knauw maar heeft het Nederlands Jeugdinstituut haar hand opgestoken? Op de website staat wat vaccinpropaganda: "Wetenschappers verwachten dat bijwerkingen op de lange termijn erg zeldzaam zijn door de strenge eisen waar vaccins aan moeten voldoen. En voor het coronavaccin zijn die eisen net zo streng als voor alle andere vaccins."
That is a fallacy followed by an untruth. Is that what a knowledge network means for its target group?
It's terrible, the apathy and disinterest splashes off. Civil servants' clubs, subsidy guzzlers, talkers and in the meantime they let everyone down. At best, they try to mitigate the consequences of the disastrous policy with their own job creation. Not a single comment about the cause of all the misery.
National Health Care Institute
It could be worse. It is downright shocking to read the claims on the website of ZIN, National Health Care Institute.
On behalf of the government, the National Health Care Institute monitors whether our healthcare is and remains good and affordable.
Excuse me...!? Where were you then?
Het lijdt geen twijfel dat de zorg het afgelopen jaar onbetaalbaar is geworden en voor lange tijd zal blijven. Alle budgetten en normbedragen zijn overstegen, miljarden zuurverdiend belastinggeld zijn onoordeelkundig over de balk gesmeten. Waar was nou de waakhond "Zorginstituut Nederland" met hun "waken over betaalbare zorg"? Kom op zeg.
A lot has been set up for ZIN. They are mainly in meetings in an apartment building in Diemen with four hundreds. An apartment building full of civil servants who cooperate in everything, as long as the Minister says so.
Consultancy firm KWINK has last year An evaluation on behalf of the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport. What is being investigated? Maybe they dance enthusiastically enough to the Minister's tune? Another case of toilet duck, it's hopeless. Nobody corrects the (outgoing) Minister. And if the Minister receives advice that goes against his own plan, then he puts it aside. No one can get a finger in it. Even the Wob fails. The Dutch are at the mercy of the pagans.
