As infrastructure minister, former minister Cora van Nieuwenhuizen (VVD) regularly attended high-level meetings in the energy sector. She was part of the so-called Ministerial Committee on Climate and Energy, even though she already knew she would become a lobbyist for energy companies.
This emerges from documents requested by NOS and Nieuwsuur from their former ministries, which were only handed over after a long process.
Van Nieuwenhuizen’s presence there is notable because the minister himself claimed at the time that he was able to make a controversial transition from politics to the energy sector because as a minister he had “never been politically interested in energy”. He therefore claimed that there could be no conflict of interest.
Van Nieuwenhuizen also said that when he knew he would become a lobbyist at the end of July 2021, he made sure that all energy-related issues were conveyed to a colleague. Despite this, he continued to obtain all kinds of official documents related to energy, and in August he twice joined the club of cabinet members developing climate and energy policy.
Still no test
Van Nieuwenhuizen made his move in late summer 2021, during the Rutte III cabinet. Things have been tightened for current outgoing cabinet members, but the promulgated law requiring ministers to pre-screen for a possible new position has still not been implemented.
The requested documents show that at meetings Van Nieuwenhuizen attended in August 2021, issues affecting the companies he would specifically lobby for were discussed. This includes financing programs and investments in energy infrastructure.
Compensation for coal-fired thermal power plants
It is also noteworthy that a decision was made at that time on how coal-fired thermal power plants should be financially compensated, as the government allowed these plants to operate more slowly. The calculation method used at the time meant that energy company RWE subsequently received hundreds of millions of dollars. This company is a member of the energy company lobby group Energie Nederland, of which Van Nieuwenhuizen became president four days after this meeting.
The calculation method was later criticized, with incumbent climate minister Jetten also describing the decision as “expensive” in the then Financieele Dagblad.
Van Nieuwenhuizen was also interested in energy at other times. For example, he led a ministerial meeting on wind turbines in the North Sea. He was also involved in the possible construction of pipelines from Rotterdam to Chemelot in Limburg and Germany. These were issues of intense interest to energy companies, including the companies they would later represent.
Emergence of conflict of interest
Leiden professor Caelesta Braun is an expert in public administration and also an expert on lobbying rules: “Van Nieuwenhuizen clearly has a conflict of interest. And you should always prevent this.
Pieter Omtzigt (NSC) and his party colleague Nicolien van Vroonhoven, together with Volt parliamentary group leader Laurens Dassen, are asking parliamentary questions about the requested documents. First of all, they want to know from Prime Minister Rutte why he allowed Van Nieuwenhuizen to attend all kinds of cabinet meetings even though he knew that he wanted to be a lobbyist.
Politicians, who have long called for stricter enforcement of lobbying rules, asked the Prime Minister at what point the conflict of interest arose in this case and when it emerged.
“The political antenna is not sharp”
Van Nieuwenhuizen himself admits that he attended the above meetings shortly before his departure. He states that he only had his own ministry’s interests in mind: “I did not contribute to the meetings in any way due to the private interests of my potential future members.”
He states that, as a minister, he has never been interested in the energy issue, and that this has a different meaning. “With the statement you quote, I would like to make it clear that my commitment is not in the field of energy companies or a specific energy policy, but only in the promotion of relevant points in the field of infrastructure and water management. ‘.”
“For me, this is where the pain lies,” Van Nieuwenhuizen says. “That my very honest intentions actually gave rise to the appearance of a conflict of interest and that my political instincts were not sharp. “I deeply regret this and my reputation has suffered a serious blow as a result.”
Van Nieuwenhuizen therefore wants to teach current and future cabinet members a wise lesson: “I hope that successors can learn from my experience and avoid contact with headhunters until they actually resign, in order to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest.”
Source: NOS
Emma Fitzgerald is an accomplished political journalist and author at The Nation View. With a background in political science and international relations, she has a deep understanding of the political landscape and the forces that shape it.
