Dutch leader faces pressure over old-school text messages

Dutch leader faces pressure over old-school text messages

SeattlePI.com

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THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The long-serving Dutch prime minister is in hot water over his low-tech cell phone.

Mark Rutte is facing unusual political and public pressure after revelations that he has been deleting text messages about official matters for years. Critics accuse him of concealing state activity – but he says the messages just took up too much space in his years-old Nokia phone.

Rutte survived a no-confidence vote in parliament on Thursday over the deleted text messages, but opposition parties are calling for further inquiry. Questions have also surfaced over whether his use of the old phone might have jeopardized national security.

In investigating the government’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant discovered that Rutte had been regularly deleting texts from his Nokia 301 for years. The daily newspaper noticed messages were missing from an official records request and, following a lawsuit, Rutte revealed that he immediately deleted messages he deemed unimportant, forwarding the remainder for an official archive.

Messages that were missing include one from Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema regarding a Black Lives Matter protest in June 2020 where attendance was ten times higher than expected, and a message from Unilever CEO Paul Polman regarding a controversial tax issue.

Rutte, now in his fourth term and among the EU’s longest-serving leaders, has been using his Nokia 301 for years for communication, though he also has an iPhone, which he says he only uses to read the news.

The prime minister denies any wrongdoing.

“I have kept to the letter, but also the spirit of the law from A to Z,” he said during the heated parliamentary debate.

He has long been criticized for his secrecy, holding that discussions between government...

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