Dutch PM Rutte vows coalition will ‘restore trust’

THE HAGUE: Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said on Thursday that his long-awaited coalition government would restore trust after a series of scandals and riots over coronavirus measures.

After a record nine months of negotiations, the coalition on Wednesday unveiled austerity-busting plans including 35 billion euros on tackling climate change and the construction of two nuclear plants.

But there were calls during a debate in parliament Thursday for more change, with Rutte set for a fourth term in office with a coalition that groups the same four parties that formed his troubled last government.

That government resigned en masse in January over a scandal in which thousands of parents were wrongly accused, in some cases after racial profiling, of fraudulently claiming child allowance.

Dubbed the "Teflon" prime minister, Rutte has stayed on ever since as the country’s longest-ever caretaker premier overseeing unpopular Covid measures that sparked riots in January and again November.