During the government formation, documents were drawn up about the controversial abolition of the dividend tax - tax companies pay on profits paid out to shareholders, the Ministry of Finance confirmed to Trouw. Previously Prime Minster Mark Rutte said that the party leaders do not recall the existence of such documents, NU.nl reports.
The Ministry of Finances refuses to make the documents public, Trouw writes.
Earlier this week the Dutch police announced that it established a youth council, which will give the police a young person's perspective on important social issues. The first topic up for discussion was discrimination. But Control Alt Delete, an organization that fights against racial profiling, wonders to what extent the 16 "predominantly white" young people on the youth council can advise the police based on their experiences with this topic.
The Secretary General of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, criticized the Netherlands for still not increasing Defense spending to 2 percent of the gross domestic product. "We expect more. This is about what's fair", he said in a conversation with the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of Dutch parliament, on Thursday, NU.nl reports.
Government parties D66 and ChristenUnie are in talks with the Israeli ambassador and the representative of the Palestinian territories in the Netherlands about creating a direct connection between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank of the Jordan, NOS reports.
The two parties want Minister Stef Blok of Foreign Affairs to take the initiative in starting talks with Israel and the Palestinians about a corridor for buses and trucks, among other things. They believe that such a connection will lead to access to medical care, family reunification and trade for the people in Gaza.
Children's Ombudsman Margrite Kalverboer is calling on the government to bring Dutch kids stuck in camps in Syria back to the Netherlands. "Doing nothing is unacceptable and in violation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child", she said on Thursday. "The Netherlands must to everything in its power to bring these children back." ANP reports.
The Netherlands' current election process - with manual voting, polling stations that stay open for long hours, and manual vote counting - is no longer feasible and can give rise to doubts about results' reliability. The association of Dutch municipalities VNG and the Dutch association of civil affairs NVVB therefore composed an 'Election Agenda 2021' with several proposals for making this process more efficient, NOS reports.
The National Cyber Security Center (NCSC) made sure all Dutch government organizations are aware of a warning issued by the American and British security services about Russian state hackers targeting network equipment. The NCSC, which falls under the Ministry of Justice and Security, takes this warning seriously and advises all Dutch organizations to check their network equipment for erroneous configurations, NU.nl reports.
A coalition of journalists, lawyers, civil society organizations, and IT- and tech companies is preparing a lawsuit to postpone the implementation of the new law for the Dutch intelligence and security services, NU.nl reports.
State Secretary Menno Snel of Finance will attend the commemoration of the Armenian genocide in Armenia next week. This is the first time a member of the Dutch government will be present at the commemoration. From now on a Dutch Minister or State Secretary will attend the commemoration every five years, RTL Nieuws reports.
The Netherlands sees no sense in implementing more sanctions against Russia for its role in the situation in Syria, Minister Stef Blok of Foreign Affairs said. "The only real solution for the Syrian conflict lies at the negotiating table", the Dutch Minister said, NOS reports.
There is no new Cold War between the West and Russia on the way, but finding "common ground" remains a challenge, Minister Stef Blok of Foreign Affairs said in a press conference after meeting his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov in Moscow on Friday. The Russians reaffirmed their cooperation in prosecuting those responsible for the MH17 disaster, he added, ANP reports.
Blok emphasized that, especially in difficult times like these, it is important that Europe and Russia stay in conversation with each other.
The prosecution of those responsible for the MH17 disaster is the first subject Minister Stef Blok of Foreign Affairs will discuss with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov during his visit to Moscow on Friday. The Dutch Minister will also ask Russia to contribute to stopping the conflict in Syria, first of all by making a cease fire possible so that humanitarian aid can get to the people in the war-torn country, NOS reports.
Increasing political contradictions, like saying that you have to choose between national sovereignty or cooperation in the European Union, are a threat to the European Union and to the Netherlands itself, Vice President of the Council of State, Piet Hein Donner, wrote with the presentation of the Council's annual report, the Volkskrant and NOS report.
The government plans to start the first social service trial projects for young people by this summer. The social service period for Dutch young people will officially start halfway through next year, State Secretary Paul Blokhuis of Public Health, Welfare and Sports said in a letter to the Tweede Kamer on Thursday, ANP reports.
The Dutch government is examining possibilities for adjusting the Netherlands' contribution to the military mission in Afghanistan. Exactly what changes will be made is not yet clear, the Telegraaf reports.
The Netherlands has around 100 soldiers in Afghanistan for advisory work that forms part of the mission Resolute Support. On Wednesday Defense Minister Ank Bijleveld spoke with her American counterpart James Mattis in Washington. Mattis again asked Bijleveld to deploy more soldiers to the Afghanistan mission.
Minister Ank Bijleveld of Defense understands why the United States is threatening military action in Syria following what is believed to be a poison gas attack in Douma. "If diplomatic, economical and political measures are insufficient, the Netherlands understands a proportional military action in Syria", she said to Nieuwsuur.
PvdA politicians Lilianne Ploumen and Kati Piri are cutting their working visit to Morocco short because they were denied access to the coastal cities of Al Hoceima and Nador. They wanted their presence there to express solitary with the Rif protest movement, but the local authorities banned them from entering, NOS reports.
A majority in the Tweede Kamer is satisfied with the changes the government wants to make to the new law for the intelligence and security services. In addition to coalition parties VVD, CDA, D66 and ChristenUnie, opposition parties GroenLinks, PvdA and SGP also agree with the changes, was revealed in a parliamentary debate on the law on Tuesday, NOS reports.
Pieter Smit, mayor of the Groningen municipality of Oldambt and member of the D66, died after going into cardiac arrest on Tuesday. He was 54 years old.
"This afternoon we heard the terrible news that our mayor Pieter Smit died of cardiac arrest. We lost our mayor, a beloved man. But his family lost their husband and father", the municipality of Oldambt said on Twitter.
Princess Ariane, the youngest of King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima's three daughters, celebrates her 11th birthday today.
Ariane was born on April 10th, 2007 and was baptized in the Klooster church in he Hague on October 20th of that year. She attends the Openbare Bloemcampschool. According to government information service Rijksvoorlichtingsdienst, the young princess enjoys horseback riding, hockey, drawing, playing guitar, and jazz ballet.
The parties in Amsterdam's city council have high demands for the city's new mayor. They are looking for someone who "deals wit things with humor and perspective", radiates a vision, and is "accessible and approachable for all sections of Amsterdam society", according to a confidential draft profile drawn up by the party leaders, which the Telegraaf managed to get hold of.
Dutch municipalities may soon be able to ban fireworks completely, instead of only implementing firework-free zones in the municipality over New Year's. Minister Ferdinand Grapperhaus of Justice and Security is considering this measure, AD reports based on sources in the coalition.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is advising Dutch traveling to China to only take 'empty' phones and laptops, with no sensitive data, with them. Data on these devices may be 'drained' remotely. This warning now also applies to Russia, Iran, and possibly Turkey, insiders told the Volkskrant.
Dutch citizens with dual nationality must lose their voting rights and must not be eligible for political positions in the Netherlands, according to PVV leader Geert Wilders. This is in the interests of "the Netherlands' survival", he said in an interview with the Telegraaf.
"The Netherlands is our country. It must be run by Dutch, who are elected by Dutch. By Dutch wo do not even have the appearance of double loyalty", he said to the newspaper.
