THE HAGUE – Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte needs a political reboot only two weeks after a major election victory because new questions about his trustworthiness are undermining the process of forming a new coalition government.
Rutte, who has been in power for more than a decade and is seeking to build his fourth governing coalition, narrowly survived a no-confidence motion in the early hours of the morning after a marathon debate in parliament in which he claimed to not remember talking about a critical Christian Democrat lawmaker.
Rutte last week publicly denied discussing the lawmaker at all. Opposition lawmakers accused prime minister of lying and of wrecking public trust in the country’s politicians.