Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte embodies budgetary moderation in his daily life, and he advocates the same approach with regard to state finances. The 55-year-old still lives in a modest apartment, rides a bicycle on his commute, and uses an old Finnish mobile phone. (Nokia), which dates back to before the advent of the touch screen smartphone.

And the French newspaper "la-croix" reported in an article that the Prime Minister, who is sometimes mocked and described as the leader of the miserliness club in Europe, is attracting the attention of his counterparts equipped with the latest phones.

Storage problems

Under a law adopted two years ago, the head of government is already required to record communications in the government's archives, to make them available if a member of Parliament so requests.

Realizing that his phone didn't have enough memory to hold so many messages, Rutte regularly erased old messages so he could receive new ones.

The newspaper quotes de Volkskrant daily as saying that this is how 41 text messages related to the epidemic were recorded during a whole year, between the end of June 2020 and the end of June last year.

She points out that Rutte was forced to buy a new smartphone last week, but it was too late as the "Nokiagate" issue would be the subject of debate in Parliament.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte is forced to delete messages promptly due to the low storage capacity of his old (European) phone

The newspaper continues, indicating that the leader of the far-right Geert Wilders criticized the use of "low phone storage capacity" as an excuse, describing it as nonsense, and also denounced what he called the political Bermuda Triangle where all things disappear in unjustified ways.

And Wilders wasn't the only one to denounce, with politician and former MP Peter Omtzegt, who played a role in exposing the controversy, complained that the prime minister was undermining the foundations of democracy, and Green Party leader Jesse Claver lamented the continuing uncertainty, despite promises of change before his re-election for a fourth term.

defense strategy

The newspaper pointed out that Rutte expressed his goodwill and denied any attempt to intentionally conceal the information, as he ignited a counter-fire by denouncing some parliamentarians with "distrust, a deep feeling that things are fraudulent" and expressed his annoyance at the attacks against him, and added, "If trust is not There, I can do something else."

And it wouldn't be the first time he's followed through on his threat. In January 2021, Rutte actually resigned after the publication of the Parliamentary Inquiry into Tax Administration which accused him of imposing unfair taxes on nearly 26,000 families for fraud in child benefits, and two months later he was re-elected as president. Ministers, the newspaper said.