Van Weel survives no-confidence debate over crime stats row

Justice Minister David van Weel has survived a no-confidence debate following an apology to MPs who accused him of misleading them over police crime figures. MPs convened an emergency debate on Thursday following reports that police had not responded to around 10,000 criminal complaints due to a lack of capacity to handle them. Van Weel had stated in June that over half of these cases were reports of crimes rather than official complaints, a figure later corrected by the government's audit office, the Algemene Rekenkamer.

The auditors found that only 10% of the cited cases were verbal reports made to police. Initially, Van Weel dismissed the reprimand as a "difference of insight," but after MPs tabled a motion of no confidence, he sought to apologize. He acknowledged that his choice of words had given "the impression" of trivializing the seriousness of the audit report, but maintained that his information was accurate.

Opposition MPs criticized the minister's explanation, threatening to back the no-confidence motion. However, after Van Weel made a more robust apology, all parties agreed not to vote for the motion, except for the far-right PVV and Forum voor Democratie. Van Weel's apology, while not admitting to misleading MPs, was deemed sufficient to avoid his resignation.