European Parliament

According to Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, unity within the European Union is more important than ever in this time when international relations and alliances can no longer be counted on. The EU countries must remain united and not let themselves be played against each other, was Rutte's main message in his speech in the European Parliament on Wednesday. "Unity is the basis of our strength", Rutte said, NU.nl reports. 

The Fidesz party of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban broke ties with the CDA. Over the weekend the CDA adopted a motion to remove its Hungarian sister party from the European People's Party (EPP) in the European Parliament, which both parties belong to, if the Hungarians do not keep to European standards and values. The Hungarians now accuse the CDA of spreading lies, the Volkskrant reports.

The European Parliament launched a thorough investigation into the appointment of German lawyer Martin Selmayr as Secretary General of the European Commission, which basically puts him in charge of 33 thousand EU officials. This follows a debate on the matter insisted on by, among others, Dutch European Parliamentarians, AD reports.

The parliamentary inquiry comes on top of an ongoing investigation by the European Ombudsman. The European Parliament will make a statement on the appointment next month, and it may even lead to a vote of no confidence.

Very little is known about how European Parliamentarians spend the about 4,300 thousand euros per month they receive fo expense compensation, NOS reports based on a European research project the broadcaster and 48 other journalists took part in. Many of the Dutch politicians NOS questioned on the matter, were reluctant to give information.

The European Parliament again called for Jeroen Dijsselbloem to resign as president of the Eurogroup on Monday after he refused to appear in Parliament to discuss the Eurogroup's role in solving the Greek crisis. Even his own PvdA faction in European Parliament (EP) is showing little support for him, RTL Nieuws reports.

Over 70 of the 751 European Parliamentarians sent a letter to Eurogroup chairman Jeroen Dijsselbloem demanding that he apologize for his "Schnapps und Frauen" statement and resign. The letter is singed by MEPs from 15 countries, including the German leader of the Christian Democrats, ANP reports.

Jeroen Dijsselbloem, Eurogroup chairman and departing Finance Minister, is facing fire over statements made about southern European countries in an interview with the Frankfurter Allegemeine on Monday.

In the interview he said that he finds the Stability Pact, which contains the EU budget rules, very important. He praised the "northern countries" for showing "solidarity" with "crisis countries", but that comes with "responsibilities", he said. "I can't spend all my money on alcohol and women and then ask you for help", he said.

Two thirds of Dutch voters are in favor of the European Union, according to a study by TNS Nipo published on Thursday. The same percentage feel they don't know enough about the EU

King Willem-Alexander will be giving a speech in the European Parliament on May 25th during a plenary session about the Dutch presidency of the European Union, the Koninklijk Huis announced on Friday.

A growing number of European Parliamentarians want to focus the Europol headquarters in The Hague by turning it into a European FBI. According to them, despite mountains of anti-terrorism measures taken since 9/11, things still go wrong in Europe because the security forces continue to refuse to share information

Closing internal borders in the European Union will cost the EU 100 billion euros per year. And export dependent countries like the Netherlands will be hit the hardest, according to a report by the European Parliament's research department which will be published on Tuesday