The Netherlands News and Discussions

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The Netherlands News and Discussions

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This is a general thread for the Netherlands related news and discussions.

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Mob-style killings shock Netherlands into fighting descent into ‘narco state’
Sun 3 Jul 2022

Journalists and lawyers under protection or murdered on the streets, court hearings guarded by the army, witness statements anonymised, and billions in dirty drug money that leaches through society, corrupting as it goes.

This is the Netherlands, where these facts have now inspired a crackdown pitting some €500m a year against a level of organised crime that politicians fear is increasingly “undermining” public order.

The mayors of Amsterdam and Rotterdam are warning of a “culture of crime and violence that is gradually acquiring Italian traits”, with record amounts of intercepted drugs at the port of Rotterdam, extreme violence that often kills the wrong target, and €15bn to €30bn a year laundered into property, cannabis “coffee shops”, tourism and bars. Allegations that the country, better known for its tolerance and fiscal frugality, has the characteristics of a “narco state 2.0” are now being taken extremely seriously.

“We will never have as much money as the criminals opposite us, but there has never before been as much structural money to tackle them, from prevention to disrupting earning models, punishing people and protecting those on the frontline,” justice minister Dilan Yeşilgöz-Zegerius said in parliament.

“Those amounts of cash can only be made if the underworld is infiltrating the legitimate world and nesting there: in streets of shops, business parks, our estate agents and lawyers,” she said.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/ ... arco-state
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Mark Rutte hands in resignation as Dutch government collapses over asylum row
Sat 8 Jul 2023 19.17 BST

Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte has presented his government’s written resignation to King Willem-Alexander, who returned from holiday to receive it.

It was Rutte’s fourth government – a fragile, four-party coalition of his People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), the liberal democratic Democrats 66, the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) and centrist ChristenUnie. It took 10 months to agree its formation and it lasted less than 18 months.

The coalition of radically different outlooks was brought down over the issue of immigration. Amid concerns about a housing crisis, high gas prices and inflation, some sought to blame foreign migrants – international students, wealthier “expats” and particularly asylum seekers.

Although the level of asylum seekers this year is expected to be 45,000, roughly the same as 2022, Rutte and the CDA reportedly argued for a harder stance in a new bill, restricting the rights of family members to join refugees from countries temporarily at war. Democrats 66 and particularly the ChristenUnie disagreed, and cabinet talks broke down on Friday.

“It’s no secret that the coalition parties think very differently about asylum policy and today we unfortunately need to draw the conclusion that the differences are unbridgeable,” said Rutte in a press conference on Friday night. “The fall of a government is never good. But it is sometimes impossible in a coalition country like the Netherlands to come to one agreement.”
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/ ... asylum-row
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Dutch election: Wilders' far-right party seeks to form government

November 23, 2023

AMSTERDAM, Nov 23 (Reuters) - Dutch anti-EU far-right populist Geert Wilders will start looking for coalition partners on Thursday after a massive election win that is set to have wide repercussions in the Netherlands and Europe.

A fan of Hungary's eurosceptic Prime Minister Viktor Orban, the vocally anti-Islam Wilders has vowed to halt all immigration, slash Dutch payments to the European Union and block the entrance of any new members, including Ukraine.

Beating all predictions, his Freedom Party (PVV) won 37 seats out of 150, well ahead of 25 for a joint Labour/Green ticket and 24 for the conservative People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) of outgoing Prime Minister Mark Rutte.

"The Rutte era ends with a right-wing populist revolt that shakes (The Hague) to its foundations," Dutch center-right daily NRC said.

A coalition of the Freedom Party, VVD, and the NSC party of centrist lawmaker Pieter Omtzigt would have 81 seats combined, making it the most obvious combination but one that is still likely to take months of difficult talks.

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/fa ... 023-11-23/


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Fireworks ignited and eggs thrown as Holocaust museum opens in Amsterdam
Sunday 10 March 2024 18:19, UK

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Fireworks were ignited and eggs thrown as pro-Palestinian protesters gathered in Amsterdam where a new National Holocaust Museum has been opened.

The Israeli president's visit to the newly-opened National Holocaust Museum in Amsterdam has sparked protests in the city.

Thousands of protesters were heard chanting "never again is now" and "ceasefire now" at Waterloo Square in central Amsterdam, near the museum, which held an opening ceremony on Sunday and invited guests including the Israeli president Isaac Herzog and Dutch King Willem-Alexander.

They also held Palestinian flags and signs that said "Jews against genocide" and "the grandchild of a holocaust survivor says: Stop Gaza Holocaust".

Dutch Jewish anti-Zionist group Erev Rave organised the protest with the Dutch Palestinian Community and Socialists International, while human rights group Amnesty International put up detour signs around the museum to direct Mr Herzog to the International Court of Justice in The Hague.
https://news.sky.com/story/protests-out ... m-13091766
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Dutch far-right leader Geert Wilders abandons bid to become PM
2 hours ago

Dutch far-right leader Geert Wilders has abandoned his bid to become prime minister despite his stunning win in the election last year.

“I can only become prime minister if all parties in the coalition support it. That was not the case,” Mr Wilders wrote on X.

“The love for my country and voters is bigger and more important than my own position,” he added.

In a separate post, he wrote that he would “still become prime minister of the Netherlands” one day. “With the support of even more Dutch people. If not tomorrow, then the day after. The voice of millions of Dutch people will be heard!”

Mr Wilders’s far-right Freedom Party (PVV) shocked everyone when it won the election in the Netherlands late last year. The populist party secured 37 seats, which was significantly higher than was forecast, but fell short of a majority in the 150-seat parliament
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/worl ... 12348.html

So, does that mean a second 2024 The Netherlands election soon?
"We all have our time machines, don't we. Those that take us back are memories...And those that carry us forward, are dreams."

-H.G Wells.
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