After hours of difficult negotiations, the leaders of the 28 European Union member states reached an agreement on migration policy at a summit in Brussels, Donald Tusk, president of the European Council announced on Friday morning, NU.nl reports.
"Everything was complicated", Prime Minister Mark Rutte said about the summit. "I am not going to say that the whole issue has now been resolved, but we have taken a big step."
Prime Minister Mark Rutte will be attending an informal European Union summit on migration on Sunday. This summit is intended to remove the irritations among various heads of government about the European migration policy, Rutte said in parliament. "It will be complicated", the Dutch Prime Minister said, NU.nl reports.
French President Emmanuel Macron visited the Netherlands on Wednesday, in the run-up to a European sumit in Brussels on Thursday and Friday. He emphasized the strong bond between the Netherlands and France, but criticized the Dutch policies on corporate tax and pulse fishing, NOS reports.
King Willem-Alexander received the French president in an official welcome ceremony at Noordeinde Palace, after which Prime Minister Mark Rutte met with him. The two heads of state then gave a press conference together.
The European Summit in Brussels today is expected to be a tense one. One of the main items on the agenda is the fact that the Netherlands still has not ratified the association agreement with the Ukraine, the only EU country not to do so. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte will try get his fellow EU leaders to accept a set of amendments to the deal, with which he hopes he can convince Dutch parliament to ratify the agreement.
Prime Minister Mark Rutte and German Chancellor Angela Merkel met with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Sunday night. The three had dinner together in the Turkish embassy in Brussels to prepare for the European summit on the refugee crisis scheduled for Monday afternoon, a spokesperson for the Dutch EU Presidency confirmed
Microsoft founder Bill Gates will be giving a speech at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam on Tuesday as part of the European Union summit that started in the city earlier this month
Prime Minister Mark Rutte is hammering the Greek government to replace the reforms the country rejected with other measures. The European Union is currently still busy with a marathon Summit in Brussels on the Greek debt crisis. The European leaders are considering a compromise proposal on providing further support for the financially unstable country.
Prime Minister Mark Rutte expects that there may be major problems with Greece, but he is still hoping for a miracle. "The time has ticked away completely. The Greek government is playing for high stakes with the interests of its own people." the Prime Minister said on Tuesday after a special European Union Summit on the Greek debt crisis in Brussels, the Telegraaf reports.
Prime Minister Mark Rutte got confirmation from Ukrainian President Porosjenko that the perpetrators of the MH17 disaster will not go unpunished. Rutte and Porosjenko spoke at the EU summit in Brussels yesterday.
Prime Minister Mark Rutte announced after the EU summit in Brussels that the Netherlands will make a further 5 million euro available for the fight against Ebola.
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte thinks it's too early to impose sanctions on Russia, but does not condone Russia's violations of international treaties.
The government wants European unemployed youth with specific qualities to work in the Netherlands for working in the energy sector in North Groningen or as a technician in Southeast Brabant. Prime Minister Mark Rutte said this on Wednesday after a European summit on youth unemployment in Berlin.
