The crisis in the temporary corona committee of the House of Representatives has been soothed. The survival of the committee, which provides the preliminary work for the upcoming parliamentary inquiry into the corona crisis, was hanging by a thread due to disagreement about the position of Wybren van Haga and Pepijn van Houwelingen.
Friday wrote the NRC that the committee membership of Wybren van Haga (Group Van Haga) and Pepijn van Houwelingen (FvD) would not be appreciated by everyone in the temporary committee. Several members had difficulty with Van Haga and Van Houwelingen because of the statements they made about corona in the House of Representatives, but also in the media and during working visits.
All committee members had agreed to keep quiet about the corona crisis to avoid any appearance of bias on the part of the committee, insiders reported. The two men didn’t seem to mind. Last week, for example, Van Haga was extremely critical of the government and the corona virus in a debate about the corona crisis, and Van Houwelingen made a link with broadcaster Ongehoord Nederland between the excess mortality in our country and corona vaccinations.
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Leaked
A number of committee members therefore wanted Van Haga and Van Houwelingen to leave the committee. Otherwise they would not be able to continue their work. However, a Member of Parliament can only leave a temporary committee on his own initiative; the House has no authority to expel anyone from a temporary committee.
After hours of private consultation, chair Mariëlle Paul (VVD) just announced that the committee will continue with the preparations, with Van Haga and Van Houwelingen. According to Paul, the members have had ‘constructive talks’. There is also talk of leaks. “We have considered this and agreed that, insofar as that would have happened, it will not happen again.” According to Paul, it was ‘not discussed’ that one or more members should resign.
Arib
It is not the first time that the temporary committee Corona has been discredited. When former Chamber President Khadija Arib (PvdA) was nominated as committee chair, a number of civil servants put a stop to this. Several anonymous complaints from the civil service, complaining about Arib’s working method as President of the House, ended up in the hands of the media, after which the long-serving Member of Parliament was forced to resign.
Since then, VVD MP Mariëlle Paul has been the acting chairman of the committee. In addition to Van Houwelingen and Van Haga, the committee also consists of Marijke van Beukering (D66), Liane den Haan, Pieter Omtzigt, Hilde Palland (CDA) and Nicki Pouw-Verweij (JA21).
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