Chamber indignant about KLM, which flouted state aid rules

2023-06-02 06:47:00

“KLM seems completely detached from reality,” says PvdA Member of Parliament Henk Nijboer. Member of Parliament Pieter Grinwis of the ChristenUnie calls it ‘disconcerting’. According to D66 colleague Alexander Hammelburg, the government can still expect KLM to feel ‘morally’ bound by the conditions for providing support. “This is a company that is so important to the Netherlands, our economy and the Amsterdam metropolis, which we have guided through the crisis.”

The Chamber fears that KLM will make all state support to companies impossible in the future with this behaviour. She wants to know what legal or other steps Minister Sigrid Kaag (finance) will now take against KLM, because doing nothing is not an option for her.

But Kaag does not yet know whether she will take legal action against KLM, she told the Chamber on Thursday. She first wants to list exactly what KLM has done with the conditions in recent years. She does say that the cabinet fully supports the critical conclusions of the state agent. “We had not expected this and could also expect better from KLM,” said Kaag.

Bonuses and wage increases

According to the state agent, KLM has not met the conditions for state aid on three points. First of all, the airline’s structural costs have not been reduced. KLM also put aside the demand for a pay cut last year by handing out bonuses and agreeing wage increases. And KLM has yet to start taking measures to stop cabin crew’s continued tax evasion.

Before the summer, Minister Kaag will seek external legal advice on whether steps can be taken against KLM and, if so, what they could be. At the same time, she will talk to KLM about the hard conclusions of the state agent. She will also present a broader evaluation of state aid this autumn. The government must learn lessons for the future about the conditions for state aid, because can those conditions be complied with and enforced?

In the case of KLM, the state could not withdraw the financial support either, because banks also participated in KLM’s rescue operation. “If we had withdrawn, banks would also have run into problems,” Kaag said in the Chamber.