A scandal has broken in the Netherlands of the cost of maintenance and repair of the royal sailing yacht "De Groene Draeck" - The Green Dragon. An internal accounting report by the Ministry of Justice is said to assert that 118,000 euro (181,000 USD) of a 304,000 euro bill is unaccounted for, RTL News reported on television Saturday evening.
Members of parliament immediately called for more openness about the expenditure for the royal family. Itemized annual reports, as have become the rule in Britain, Denmark and Norway, are not given in The Netherlands, despite a promise by Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende in 2004 of more transparancy.
Queen Elizabeth shed a few tears when her Royal Yacht "Britannia" in 1997 was decommissioned and not replaced by another ship. Queen Beatrix’ boat ‘De Groene Draeck" is not nearly as grand as the Britannia, (412 ft) now exhibited at quay side in Leith, Scotland.
But the cost for maintenance of the Dutch royal sailing boat is all but peanuts. And the Dutch queen is facing a storm over them.
Beatrix received the Lemsteraak "De Groene Draeck" as a national gift for her 18th birthday in 1956. Sailing ships need maintenance and the 15 meter (30 feet) long royal yacht is no exception. From the start it was arranged that the Navy Shipyard in Den Helder would be responsible, at no cost to the royal family.
The Dutch public only became aware of this profitable arrangement in August 2007, when the Netherlands Press Association had a closer look at the Defense budget. Members of parliament had overlooked it as well and the Ministry of Defense was at loss for an explanation; only much later they could assert that the arrangement was mentioned in some small print in the early sixties.
Parliament asked why maintenance and repair of a private royal boat should be paid from the public purse. Polls found 87 percent of the population saying that the Queen should cover the cost for the boat herself. Not in the least because the annual bill of 112,000 euro over 2006 was found to be excessive; shipbuilders wondered what on earth could have been repaired for that much money.
In 2005 the cost were even higher - 304,000 euro (468,000 USD, 505,000 AUD). A new gast installation was to have been installed. But a still confidential accounting report has found that much of the bill is unaccounted for. © RB
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