This week’s round-up of stories making news in the Netherlands begins with the current political reform of the Dutch government. Newspapers reported that the cabinet wants to limit salaries of civil servants and other public sector employees, like hospital and university staff members.
Civil servants will not be allowed to earn more than 130,000 euro per year, which is Prime Minister Balkenende’s current salary. The Minister of Justice, backed by Parliament, also wants to remove the state’s current immunity from criminal prosecution: Government officials are now to be held personally accountable for criminal negligence. Meanwhile, speaking in Parliament, Dutch Foreign Minister Ben Bot created some controversy when for the first time publicly he criticized the decision to invade Iraq. Bot said diplomatic efforts weren’t properly exhausted and allegations about Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction were inaccurate. According to De Volkskrant, the governing Christian Democrat-VVD conservative coalition reacted to Bot’s comments “like they had been stung by a bee.” Elsewhere, Queen Beatrix joined hundreds of Dutch mayors in celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Dutch Association of Mayors. Dutch mayors however are rapidly losing power: the “dualism” principle, enacted in 2002, gave city councils greater powers for challenging the authority of mayors and aldermen. According to one newspaper, this has directly led to the recent sacking of many mayors and aldermen. “Aldermen are biting the dust by the dozen, De Volkskrant wrote.
New government legislation will make after-school care a right. As of 2007, all Dutch schools must provide daily childcare from 7:30 to 18:30. There was chaos at Schiphol Airport last week: dozens of flights were delayed when a bulldozer dug up a 500-pound British World War II bomb buried beneath a runway. The bomb’s delay-mechanism was such that the slightest movement could’ve caused the bomb to explode. And apparently there are many more: Nazi Germany dropped 600 bombs on Schiphol in May 1940 and “dozens of those bombs never exploded,” Trouw reported. Meanwhile, in Afghanistan, Dutch and US forces took part in Operation Shorawak, a secret mission to collect information and monitor the Pakistani border. Closer to home however the Dutch military was embarrassed when anti-war campaigners infiltrated a military transport depot in Stroe, a town in central Holland, and punctured the tires of 500 military vehicles. The Dutch military, facing personnel shortages, has also decided to hire foreigners who have technical skills the military needs. The Dutch Ministry of Defense is currently searching for foreign specialists, like pilots, medics, air-traffic controllers and fire fighters. The foreign recruits however must be from European and NATO member countries.
Elsewhere, Gretta Duisenberg – widow of Dutchman Wim Duisenberg, former president of the European Bank – was refused entry into Israel last weekend. Widow Duisenberg is a high-profile activist for Palestinian rights and arrived in Israel with members of the ‘Stop the Occupation’ activist group. At Ben Gurion Airport, “Duisenberg was treated like a potential terrorist,” De Telegraaf reported. She was forced to strip naked and throw her bra on the floor as agents searched her for weapons. She was then deported back to Holland. Meanwhile, the Muslim fast of Ramadan began, with several newspapers reporting on a survey that found Dutch-Moroccan Muslims to be much more strict in their Ramadan fasting than Dutch-Turks: 80 percent of the Moroccan-Dutch Muslims fast every day during Ramadan, compared to only 60 percent of Dutch-Turkish Muslims.
Ninety percent of Dutch people watch television everyday, for approximately 12 hours per week, according to a survey about Dutch TV-watching habits. Dutch people regularly talk, eat and have sex while watching TV, the survey of 37,000 people found. Moreover, 70 percent of men have total control of the remote control. The Dutch national football team qualified for next year’s World Cup, beating the Czech Republic 2-0, with the Algemeen Dagblad praising the team for its “daring and open” play. And finally, the first annual ‘Golden Onion’ was awarded to the worst Dutch film: this year’s winner was ‘Black Swans’, a film that cost one million euro to make but attracted less than 1,000 viewers. ‘Black Swans’ however also received five nominations for a Golden Calf, the Dutch film industry’s equivalent of the ‘Oscars’.
This week’s round-up of stories making news in the Netherlands begins with the current political reform of the Dutch government. Newspapers reported that the cabinet wants to limit salaries of civil servants and other public sector employees, like hospital and university staff members. Civil servants will not be allowed to earn more than 130,000 euro per year, which is Prime Minister Balkenende’s current salary. The Minister of Justice, backed by Parliament, also wants to remove the state’s current immunity from criminal prosecution: Government officials are now to be held personally accountable for criminal negligence. Meanwhile, speaking in Parliament, Dutch Foreign Minister Ben Bot created some controversy when for the first time publicly he criticized the decision to invade Iraq. Bot said diplomatic efforts weren’t properly exhausted and allegations about Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction were inaccurate. According to De Volkskrant, the governing Christian Democrat-VVD conservative coalition reacted to Bot’s comments “like they had been stung by a bee.” Elsewhere, Queen Beatrix joined hundreds of Dutch mayors in celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Dutch Association of Mayors. Dutch mayors however are rapidly losing power: the “dualism” principle, enacted in 2002, gave city councils greater powers for challenging the authority of mayors and aldermen. According to one newspaper, this has directly led to the recent sacking of many mayors and aldermen. “Aldermen are biting the dust by the dozen, De Volkskrant wrote.
New government legislation will make after-school care a right. As of 2007, all Dutch schools must provide daily childcare from 7:30 to 18:30. There was chaos at Schiphol Airport last week: dozens of flights were delayed when a bulldozer dug up a 500-pound British World War II bomb buried beneath a runway. The bomb’s delay-mechanism was such that the slightest movement could’ve caused the bomb to explode. And apparently there are many more: Nazi Germany dropped 600 bombs on Schiphol in May 1940 and “dozens of those bombs never exploded,” Trouw reported. Meanwhile, in Afghanistan, Dutch and US forces took part in Operation Shorawak, a secret mission to collect information and monitor the Pakistani border. Closer to home however the Dutch military was embarrassed when anti-war campaigners infiltrated a military transport depot in Stroe, a town in central Holland, and punctured the tires of 500 military vehicles. The Dutch military, facing personnel shortages, has also decided to hire foreigners who have technical skills the military needs. The Dutch Ministry of Defense is currently searching for foreign specialists, like pilots, medics, air-traffic controllers and fire fighters. The foreign recruits however must be from European and NATO member countries.
Elsewhere, Gretta Duisenberg – widow of Dutchman Wim Duisenberg, former president of the European Bank – was refused entry into Israel last weekend. Widow Duisenberg is a high-profile activist for Palestinian rights and arrived in Israel with members of the ‘Stop the Occupation’ activist group. At Ben Gurion Airport, “Duisenberg was treated like a potential terrorist,” De Telegraaf reported. She was forced to strip naked and throw her bra on the floor as agents searched her for weapons. She was then deported back to Holland. Meanwhile, the Muslim fast of Ramadan began, with several newspapers reporting on a survey that found Dutch-Moroccan Muslims to be much more strict in their Ramadan fasting than Dutch-Turks: 80 percent of the Moroccan-Dutch Muslims fast every day during Ramadan, compared to only 60 percent of Dutch-Turkish Muslims.
Ninety percent of Dutch people watch television everyday, for approximately 12 hours per week, according to a survey about Dutch TV-watching habits. Dutch people regularly talk, eat and have sex while watching TV, the survey of 37,000 people found. Moreover, 70 percent of men have total control of the remote control. The Dutch national football team qualified for next year’s World Cup, beating the Czech Republic 2-0, with the Algemeen Dagblad praising the team for its “daring and open” play. And finally, the first annual ‘Golden Onion’ was awarded to the worst Dutch film: this year’s winner was ‘Black Swans’, a film that cost one million euro to make but attracted less than 1,000 viewers. ‘Black Swans’ however also received five nominations for a Golden Calf, the Dutch film industry’s equivalent of the ‘Oscars’.
Comments are closed.