Fireworks ban unlikely to be continued, surveyed MP’s say

This week, the lower house of the Dutch parliament will debate a GroenLinks and PvdD proposal to ban consumer fireworks in exchange for professionally organized firework shows over New Year's. But it is already clear that the ban will not get majority support in the Tweede Kamer, RTL Nieuws reports after surveying the parliamentarians.

The government banned fireworks this past New Year's due to the coronavirus. GroenLinks and PvdD want to make that ban permanent. According to the green party and the animal party, the fun of consumer fireworks over New Year's does not outweigh the downsides - hundreds of injured people per year, stressed and panicked animals, and the pollution and damage to public property left behind.

Two-thirds of Dutch municipalities support the ban, according to a survey of mayors earlier this year. But the Tweede Kamer seems to be hesitating. Coalition parties VVD and CDA and opposition parties PVV, FvD, Groep van Haga, JA21, and BBB told RTL Nieuws that they would vote against the proposal. That's already 77 of the 150 seats. The SP also said it would likely vote against it.

Many parties, including the VVD, said they want to wait and see how the ban on firecrackers and rockets, implemented in 2020, works out once the Netherlands can again celebrate New Year's without coronavirus restrictions.