One of the candidate junior ministers in the new Dutch government has withdrawn, following claims in the Volkskrant newspaper that she had exaggerated her LinkedIn CV.
Nathalie van Berkel, currently an MP on behalf of D66, had been nominated as junior finance minister but, the Volkskrant reported on Monday, her cv contains several major errors.
Van Berkel claims to have studied for a master’s degree in business administration at Leiden University but in fact she only did a pre-masters course and failed to complete that. She also claimed to have studied law at Erasmus University but again failed to complete her first year.
Commentators said the situation is a major blow to D66 leader Rob Jetten, who had said Van Berkel was always honest about not having completed her degrees in interviews.
However, they said, he was left without a choice after opposition parties began to make an issue out of Van Berkel’s position, given that his new administration does not control a majority of parliamentary seats.
That, Jetten said later “could be in the way” of her doing an effective job.
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