There needs to be a cooling-off period before politicians can take up new jobs in the private sector, finance minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem says in an interview in current affairs magazine Vrij Nederland.

Currently there are no restrictions on the jobs which former ministers and MPs can take up when leaving parliament and this has made some ‘vulnerable’, Dijsselbloem said.

‘It creates vulnerability to allow ministers and politicians who are responsible for a certain sector to work for a company in the same sector straight way,’ the minister said.

The decision by former transport minister Camiel Eurlings to leave parliament for KLM is one example of this, as is former finance minister Gerrit Zalm’s move to the private DSB bank, Dijsselbloem said.

‘You give the appearance of a conflict of interests, even if you keep them separate until the last day of your ministry,’ he is quoted as saying. ‘You don’t need to be banned from certain jobs for the rest of your life but I do support a cooling-off period of a couple of years.’