During a debate on the issue, Halsema confirmed on Wednesday afternoon that there was no question of favoritism and that enough had been set in motion to prevent a recurrence. Halsema said she regrets the situation that has arisen, and continues to be a candidate for the job.

Booij was appointed in 2019 to organize the completion of 750 years of Amsterdam against payment of 10,000 euros per month. Booij is an acquaintance of the mayor. His expertise as a driver of cultural projects meant that he was awarded this contract privately. Due to mistakes, the appointment as a self-employed person then continued until in 2022 his earnings threatened to overcome the European tender limit of 214,000 euros. once student magazine Propria cures brought this to light, Booij had to stop his work immediately. Because of Booij’s compensation, his personal relationship with the mayor and the many mistakes made during his appointment, the matter has turned into a major riot with a lot of image damage for the consequences.

Shame of favoritism

Halsema acknowledged on Wednesday that she should have been more wary of the appearance of favoritism when appointing Booijs. “I can agree with the resulting image that you think that the intuition should have been different.”

Almost all parties in the council acknowledged that there has been, as Halsema has always said. “I see that the mayor has taken this very seriously. As a councilor, I have never had so many promises to prevent this in the future,” said VVD councilor Marianne Poot.

That the largest opposition party has reached this conclusion, means that a large majority of the council considers the Booij issue not to be a tired decision by the mayor, but a final combination of circumstances. “I have faith in the mayor’s plans,” said PvdA councilor Dennis Boutkan.

However, many parties insisted that more political sensitivity is needed if the mayor appoints someone you know, because mistakes of lack of clarity damage confidence in politics. “The mayor has been kept within the limits,” said council member Tjitske Kuiper (CU). “More importantly, what is the image that sticks? This is a scratch on what should be a great party.”

As transparent as possible

Last week, when the mayor was not satisfied with the officials who had arranged Boo’s appointment, Halsema asked for their understanding on Wednesday. “In defense of the officials, I would like to say that the pandemic broke out during the time of Booijs’ appointment. People partly worked from home, many were preoccupied by corona. It’s not an excuse, but it helps to understand why it started that way.”

Halsema has promised that, even if candidates come from her network, she will always be as transparent as possible and through a public procedure in future. The new program director for Amsterdam 750 years will also be hired as a civil servant if possible, the mayor Halsema once again promised. “There is an emergence that is at odds with image intentions. (…) This makes me, looking back, a solid bag of water what happened.”

However, alderman Rutger Groot Wassink (purchasing) warned that the current future circumstances would allow the municipality to hire fewer staff as self-employed. According to him, the scarcity on the labor market is currently regularly abused.