‘Queen Beatrix Interferes With Appointment Officials’

Queen Beatrix of The Netherlands regularly interfered with the appointment of Dutch officials in the past. This is claimed by Henk Koning, Ben Bot and Pieter Kooijmans, three former government officials in the KRO programme Reporter, that will be broadcasted on Sunday.

 

The old politicians do not see a problem in that interferance though, in the end the minister stays responsible for the appointment. In 1991 the queen was said to have preferred henk Koning as president of the General Chamber of Auditors, over Saskia Stuiveling. Queen Beatrix made her preferance known to prime minister Ruud Lubbers, after which the cabinet chose for Koning. In a reaction, Lubbers wants neither to confirm nor to deny the story. In 1999 however, when Koning left the General Chamber of Auditors and Stuyveling was again one of the candidates the queen again made her preferance for another candidate known. Bram Peper, the minister of Home Affairs, this time did not agree with the queen’s advice and appointed Stuiveling. Queen Beatrix however did not create a fuss – ‘Her Majesty knows her place’.

Pieter Kooijmans told the programme that in 1993 when he became minister of Foreign Affairs, he did so partly because of the wishes of the queen. Initially Kooijmans refused the offer by prime minister Ruud Lubbers for the position. Lubbers however made a second attempt, adding that it was one of the queen’s wishes, after which Kooijmans accepted the position.

Filed under The Netherlands
Tagged Government, Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands.

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