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The Dutch government resigned a few weeks before the parliamentary elections in March.

The Dutch radio and the ANP news agency reported unanimously on Friday in The Hague.

The government of Prime Minister Mark Rutte is drawing the conclusions from an unprecedented affair over child benefits.

For years around 20,000 parents had been falsely portrayed as fraudsters and plunged into great financial hardship.

The resignation is seen primarily as a symbolic step and is unlikely to have any impact on the outcome of the election on March 17th.

In the surveys, Rutte's VVD is well ahead.

Then he could also form a government again.

Rutte had previously assured that the government would remain fully capable of dealing with the Corona crisis.

In the fight against alleged fraud, the tax authorities reclaimed tens of thousands of euros in childcare subsidies from their parents between 2013 and 2019.

Thousands of families were in dire straits as a result.

The right-wing liberal Rutte was head of government in all years.

Most recently, his right-wing liberal VVD ruled together with two Christian parties and the left-liberal D66.

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The affair had become acute after a parliamentary commission of inquiry had sharply condemned the actions of politicians, authorities and the judiciary in December.

"The basic principles of the rule of law were violated." The government has already promised compensation of 30,000 euros per family.

The pressure on the government had increased after the leader of the social democratic opposition party, Lodewijk Asscher, surprisingly announced his withdrawal from politics on Thursday because of the same affair.

Asscher was Minister of Social Affairs until 2017.