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Dutch minister survives no confidence vote after terrorism debate

Xinhua, April 8, 2016 Adjust font size:

The Dutch Minister of Security and Justice Ard van der Steur promised improvement after surviving a vote of no confidence during a fierce debate on his functioning in the fight against terrorism on Thursday in the house of representatives.

The opposition parties questioned whether the fight against terrorism was in good hands with Van der Steur. The minister had made a series of mistakes and had given misinformation, mainly on Ibrahim El Bakraoui, one of the suicide bombers in the Brussels attacks on March 22, who was deported from Turkey to the Netherlands in July last year, after which he was not held and went out of sight for the security and intelligence services.

The Party of Freedom PVV issued the vote of no confidence and was supported by GroenLinks (GreenLeft), the Socialist Party SP and some smaller parties. The motion was rejected by a majority, with the opposition parties CDA (Christian Democrats), D66 (Democrats), the Christian Parties CU and SGP and government parties VVD (Liberals) and PvdA (Labor) giving the minister their confidence.

All parties insisted that Van der Steur should come with additional measures to improve the fight against terrorism before May 1. The minister declared that he felt confident enough to continue and that he found himself still the right man to lead the Ministry of Security and Justice. He promised that his approach would change and be more visible, more proactive and more assertive.

In March last year the 46-year-old Van der Steur succeeded Ivo Opstelten as Minister of Security and Justice. The latter had resigned following misinformation on a controversial settlement with a drug lord. Enditem