FvD

Populist FvD leader Thierry Baudet took television program Buitenhof to court for what he himself called "fake news", "outrageous untruths" and "shameful lies", according to AD. His lawyer Dirk Vermaat said in the court in Lelystad on Wednesday that the program deliberately misquoted Baudet for the purpose of "character assassination" - to make him out as a racist, the newspaper reports.

FvD leader Thierry Baudet said that he was "too quick, and too firm" with posts on social media on Friday, in which he said that "Moroccans" were harassing two female passengers on a train. The "Moroccans" turned out to be NS employees and a police officer in civilian clothing, checking the two women's tickets. The police are looking into whether they will press charges against the populist politician, a spokesperson for the National Unit said to RTL Nieuws.

All 26 Dutch members of the European Parliament will be voting for the Brexit on Wednesday evening. Some with complete conviction, others with pain in their hearts. "With reluctance", "we regret it", "it is inescapable", "inevitable", and "this is what the British want", is how the more reluctant Dutch MEPs explained their 'yes' vote to NOS.

A package of urgent measures to reduce the level of nitrogen emissions and ground contamination was approved during a Tuesday night vote by senators in the Eerste Kamer, the upper house of Dutch parliament. The bill allows for tighter nitrogen regulations on construction projects, the reduction of nitrogen emissions from livestock, and the accelerated improvement and restoration of Natura 2000 nature sites.

The weapon that Amsterdam mayor Femke Halsema's 15-year-old son was arrested with in July was a deactivated revolver that belonged to his father, Robert Oey, the boy's father and Halsema's partner said in an interview with NRC. The boy found the weapon in a drawer in the mayor's official residence, where Oey left it before going on a business trip to Hong Kong, he said, adding that Halsema did not know the weapon was there. Opposition parties in Amsterdam want an explanation from the mayor. 

After populist party FvD's massive win in the Provincial States elections in March, Dutch voters are quickly losing confidence in party leader Thierry Baudet, according to the latest poll by Maurice de Hond. In April Baudet was in 7th place in the ranking of confidence in party leaders. Now he's dropped to 12th place, one spot below his main competitor for voters PVV leader Geert Wilders.

Senator Henk Otten, who was expelled from populist party FvD three weeks ago, is starting his own party and he is taking two other FvD Senators with him. Otten was spotted having a "founding meeting" with Senators Jeroen de Vries and Dorien Rookmaker on a hotel terrace in Zwolle, De Telegraaf reports.

Populist party FvD expelled Senator Henk Otten from the party. The party suspects him of fraud based on an internal investigation into the party administration in 2018, the FvD said in a statement on its website on Wednesday. The Ministry of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations has been informed of the alleged fraud, the party said. Otten is considering legal steps against the FvD, he said to NOS.

After several rounds of voting, senators in the Netherlands selected Professor Jan Anthonie Bruijn as the new chairperson of the Eerste Kamer, the upper house of Dutch parliament. The 61-year-old professor of immunopathology at Leiden University has been involved in politics as a VVD member since 1989 when he first became a local VVD board member in hometown of Wassenaar, Zuid-Holland.

Bruijn takes the reins from VVD politican Ankie Broekers-Knol. She was tapped as justice and security secretary last month.

Parliamentarians from both opposition and coalition parties expressed concerns about increasingly intimidating anti-abortion, anti-choice demonstrations at abortion clinics in the Netherlands. Oppositions parties GroenLinks, PvdA, SP, PvdD and 50Plus and ruling party VVD issued a joint call to protect women's right to safely choose abortion, NOS and RTL Nieuws report.

Prime Minister Mark Rutte delayed the publication of the planning offices' climate agreement calculations until after Budget Day, because he thought a debate about the climate would be "undesirable" at this point, Nieuwsuur reports based on documents it received by appealing to the Government Information Act. Opposition parties in parliament are outraged and want a quick explanation from Rutte about the pressure he exerted on the planning offices to delay this publication, NOS reports.