Coalition summit asked Omtzigt to become State Secretary for Finance

At the end of 2019, Pieter Omtzigt was asked to become State Secretary for Finance, as the successor to Menno Snel (D66), who resigned due to the Allowances affair. Omtzigt, then still a CDA MP, declined the offer. He says that in an interview with Twan Huys in the television program College Tourwhich will be broadcast on Sunday evening.

According to the now independent MP, the “top of the coalition”, it remains unclear who exactly, has tried “really long” to appoint him as State Secretary of Finance. “Like: Pieter has criticism, then Pieter should do it.” Omtzigt, who helped put the Allowances affair on the map and stuck to the file, said he immediately rejected the offer. “I said: I have had zero information and cooperation so far. This doesn’t seem sensible to me and I don’t know if I’m the right person to solve this.”

This is not the first time that Omtzigt’s position has been considered. In March last year, notes from the then scouts Annemarie Jorritsma (VVD) and Kajsa Ollongren (D66) were leaked, stating ‘Omtzigt position, position elsewhere’. The formation of a new cabinet – Rutte III had resigned because of the Allowances affair – was seriously delayed by that disclosure.

Shortly after the leak, Omtzigt called in sick and was at home for months with a burnout. In June he canceled his CDA membership, after which he returned to the House of Representatives as a one-man faction Groep Omtzigt.