Prime Minister Schöff is not yet willing to respond to complaints from finance ministry officials about the Laurentian Princess’s Recovery Foundation (SGH). He wants to wait for a “retrospective effect” first and does not want to say yet whether King Willem-Alexander’s sister-in-law can reduce her involvement in the foundation.

“I will wait patiently first and then look at it calmly,” the prime minister said of last week’s debate about the institution involved in an alternative treatment of the benefits issue.

The Finance Ministry said Wednesday that officials had verbally reported discussions with Saudi German Hospital where “temperatures sometimes ran high.” Laurentian’s name and the number of reports were not mentioned, but several media outlets, including NOS, have received reports of the princess’s actions, which also included the term “aggressive behavior.”

In its response, the foundation said the princess had been unfairly portrayed in a bad light through leaks by officials and the media.

The Laurentian case also concerns Prime Minister Schoff, because the princess is a member of the royal household and therefore has ministerial responsibility. This means, among other things, that she must publicly present her views to the relevant ministers in advance. Schoff said today that he has not yet spoken to Princess Laurentian personally since the matter became public.

This also applies to Minister of State Asahbar, who is responsible for handling the issue of benefits. She denies opening an investigation into the complaints and prefers to talk about a “retrospective effect”. In this retrospective, the events are viewed in a “calm and precise” manner.

Ashbar finds the buzz around the foundation and the Laurentian approach a “distraction.” She says she believes it is important to address the issue of benefits as quickly and effectively as possible. Last week, she and the prime minister held discussions with parents of beneficiaries.

Princess Laurentius, who is married to Prince Constantine, has been closely involved in dealing with the benefits issue since last year as co-founder of SGH. She also holds many discussions at the ministry with civil servants.

In 2021, Rutte’s third government fell over the benefits affair, when it emerged that the tax authorities had wrongly treated a group of parents as fraudsters. The families had to pay tens of thousands of euros in benefits and thus faced major financial problems. Successive ministers have so far failed to close the case.