Prince Constantijn and Princess Laurentien, News & Events Part 4 (January 2018 - )


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Princess Laurentien spoke to magazine 'Libelle'. She says that after 22 years she still thinks she is married to the ';eukste' (nicest?) man in the universe. 'That is really how I feel'. They have a 'deep connection through our values. In the morning while brushing teeth we are already discussing society (samenleving).

In 3 years she will celebrate her 60th birthday. For now she still looks at thta age 'with surprise'. 'I some way I still have the illusion that I am still very young. Sixty feels like "next level" but I enjoy pointing it out. Because if things go well we all turn sixty at one point'.

https://www.rtlnieuws.nl/entertainm...rentien-openhartig-huwelijk-prins-constantijn
 
Princess Laurentien is guest editor-in-chief of the December issue of Dutch magazine Nouveau. Today, December 4, she attended the launch of the issue together with her parents Laurens Jan and Jantien Brinkhorst and Countess Eloise and Count Claus-Casimir:


** instagram gallery **


** nouveau article with photos: En Nouveau's gasthoofdredacteur is… prinses Laurentien! **


** nouveau article 2: Nouveau's gasthoofdredacteur Laurentien: 'Ik wil zichtbaar maken wat niet zichtbaar is' **


Countess Leonore and Countess Eloise both posed for photos of the magazine:


** instagram post **
 
'Laurentien van Oranje' it is, according to the headline. At least she is having fun but I do not think these kind of second-rate glamour things are particulary useful. The Princess did focus on other women in the edition itself, so that is good and perhaps less narcisistic than it seems.
 
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Agreed, and the hairstyle on the cover is one that suits her well. Nice to see her mother, Mrs. Jantien Brinkhorst, there.
 
Prince Constantijn as Special Envoy for Techleap is once again attending the CES tech event in Las Vegas (January 9 - 12):


** Pic ** twitter video **
 
Princess Constantijn presented the prizes after the final of the Dutch Violin Competition in Utrecht yesterday, January 27:


** Pic **
 
Princess Laurentien and Countess Eloise attended the Official opening of the 'My Lima Lima' Vintage Clothing Store in the Hague
PPE Agency
 
Prince Constantijn as Special Envoy for Techleap presented the report on the state of Dutch tech "reporting on progress and areas for improvement in tech in the Netherlands" in Den Haag yesterday, March 6:


** gettyimages gallery **
 
An extremely generous method developed by a Foundation started by and with active involvement of princess Laurentien (called 'the Laurentien method') to compensate the 'benefit parents' (a term used for those who were unfairly cut in their government allowances) is likely to cost the Dutch tax payers an additional 5 billion euros. Parents are even compensated (the average amount is 128.000 EURO) if the got a letter telling them they would be cut but ended up not being cut at all. So, while everyone in 'political The Hague' agrees that compensation needs to be given, the total costs are getting out of hand according to a secret note by the Ministry of Finance.

nos.nl

Herstel toeslagenaffaire dreigt ongekende strop te worden: nog 5 miljard extra

Op de werkvloer bij de Dienst Toeslagen bestaan grote twijfels over de hoge bedragen die naar gedupeerden gaan.
nos.nl nos.nl
 
The state secretary responsible for the handling of the benefits affairs says in response to the revelations in the article mentioned above that the 'Laurentien method' is still in a pilot phase. At the end of the month a decision will be made on continuation. However, others point out that money has already been reserved to continue this pilot on a much larger scale.

nos.nl

Kabinet: 'Methode Laurentien' herstel toeslagen nog geen uitgemaakte zaak

Gisteren bleek dat er een miljardenstrop bij de hersteloperatie dreigt.
nos.nl nos.nl
 
Heaps of praise were piled on the princess last year for this initiative. But that seems to have passed.We will se ehow it will play out.
 
The risk of becoming involved in a real political issue (as in an issue created by politics)...
 
Tomorrow the government will discuss the pilot by Princess Laurentien's foundation to decide whether they will continue that route to compensate benefit parents generously for serious mistakes made by government agencies or whether it will be ended because of the expected much higher costs associated with it.

Of course, even if this government decide to continue (or end), the next government which is expected to be sworn in about a month could decide differently.

nos.nl

Stichting Laurentien en ministerie overhoop over toeslagenaffaire, morgen besluit kabinet

De bedragen die de Stichting Gelijkwaardig Herstel uitkeert moeten navolgbaar zijn en uit te leggen aan andere ouders en de belastingbetaler, zeggen bronnen bij Financiën.
nos.nl nos.nl
 
The cabinet decided that they want to continue the 'Laurentien Method' but wants to build in some safeguards before doing so - as currently there are worries that the method isn't fair to others going through a different route to get compensated. They also stress that the new coalition will have to approve the adapted method.

The NOS article also includes a video of a very emotional Laurentien (mixing up her prepositions) with a message for the 'benefit parents': Kabinet: pas door met 'methode-Laurentien' na aanpassingen
 
I have been reading that the civil servant leaks of the previous week has been incorrect. The method of Laurentien and foundation is not more expensive at all. It seems they wanted to tarnish Laurentien’s reputation to make the ministery look less incompetent.

What the case does show is that active members of the RF should stay away from politically sensitive dossiers.
 
Marengo said:
I have been reading that the civil servant leaks of the previous week has been incorrect. The method of Laurentien and foundation is not more expensive at all. It seems they wanted to tarnish Laurentien’s reputation to make the ministery look less incompetent.

What the case does show is that active members of the RF should stay away from politically sensitive dossiers.
Click to expand...
I'm not so sure that the method of Laurentien's foundation is not more expensive. The foundation makes some claims but the secretary of state is still concerned about the difference between those being compensated through the Laurentien method versus those compensated in other ways. So, I guess the truth is somewhere in the middle: it isn't as expensive as the ministry claimed but it is likely more expensive than other methods.

However, as you correctly point out, while this might have seemed a relatively uncontroversial -while political- issue (it seems everyone wants a solution), any political issue can turn out complicated and still result in partisan views, so indeed something that members of the royal family should be very careful about when getting themselves involved.
 
Laurentien and the cabinet have made peace, says the national press. Her foundation to help the victims of the child benifit scandal can continue (after it was paused in May). The pilot was stopped as the compensation for the victims was deemed 'too generous' by the ministery.

It is now agreed that damages suffered before the scandal will nto be paid for by the state, thus reducing the overall costs. The wish to let the princess continue her work was supported by nearlt the entire parlament. All parties except Wilders PVV (extreme right, currently the largest party and part of the coalition government) supported a motion of the Christian Union to let the foundation resume its good work this summer.

www.volkskrant.nl

‘Methode-Laurentien’ voor afhandeling toeslagschandaal kan worden hervat

De stichting van prinses Laurentien heeft een overeenkomst gesloten met het nieuwe kabinet en kan doorgaan met het afhandelen van de schade voor toeslagenouders. In mei had het demissionaire kabinet de ‘methode-Laurentien’ stopgezet, wat hen op veel kritiek kwam te staan.
www.volkskrant.nl www.volkskrant.nl

nos.nl

Akkoord over versobering 'methode-Laurentien' voor toeslagenouders

De Stichting Gelijkwaardig Herstel mag door met het helpen van gedupeerden, maar de uitkeringen moeten voortaan wel "uitlegbaar" zijn.
nos.nl nos.nl
 
According to the Algemeen Dagblad, Princess Laurentien is accused of transgressive behavior towards civil servants of the ministery of finance. 'Emotions somtimes run high' according to several of them who felt she treated them badly. Apparently there are 8 reports. It is not known if these were by the same people or if it was one incident reported by 8.

www.ad.nl

Meldingen van grensoverschrijdend gedrag door prinses Laurentien op ministerie

Bij de ambtelijke top van het ministerie van Financiën zijn ‘meerdere’ meldingen binnengekomen over prinses Laurentien waarbij ‘de emoties weleens zijn opgelopen’ over haar optreden. Prinses Laurentien zou ambtenaren onbehoorlijk hebben bejegend. Dat blijkt uit onderzoek van deze site. Naar...
www.ad.nl www.ad.nl

The ministery now confirms that there have been problems. Soruces tell the newspaper about a pattern of intimidation and a work culture of fear. Incidents were reported but nothing changed.

Comments on social media are widely supportive of the princess and blame frustrated civil servants taking revenge. It was the ministery itself who has ruined lives of many victims in the child benifit scandal,.
 
According to a reporter it was widely known that princess Laurentien doesn’t take no for an answer and will make it very clear if she doesn’t agree - which was not appreciated by the previous cabinet.

Her foundation issued a statement that the reports are off-base, so again Laurentien is on the attack when her ideas or way of going about things are challenged.

Personally I am worried that there is more truth to it than she wants to admit. Time for the king to get involved (in the background of course) and keep her in-check.
 
The timing gives some the impression that a group of civil servants tried to get rid of her earlier on. And when her foundation was cleared they now try to get rid of her this way. In the mean time not one civil servant has been fired over this scandal / which ruined the lives of many people. The same happened to former chairwoman of parlament Kadija Arib - a whisper campaign of civil servants and she was out.

We have a weak government, a weak prime minister, weak ministers and a weak parlament now. So the ministeries can for a large part do as they please. Apart from the usual populist charlatan politicians screaming outrage very little will actually get done. Much of the new ministers -from new parties without much experience- seem clueless and beyond incompetent.

Having that said it is an impossible position for the court to be in. She should drop her work for the foundation, even if it is just an attempt at character assassination. The monarchy should not and can not be involved in such controversies.

The next days/weeks will be interesting. I am sure more will leak, it always does.
 
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