The fight against organized crime is complicated, but can be won, Prime Minister Mark Rutte said on the second day of the parliamentary debate on the national budget. Ferdinand Grapperhaus agreed with Rutte’s standpoint. The Security and Justice Minister from the PM’s conservative VVD party backed a call from several politicians to form a specialized unit focused solely on tackling drug crime.
PVV
Sep 6 '19 16:00
PvdA leader Lodewijk Asscher lashed out at PVV leader Geert Wilders and FvD leader Thierry Baudet on Facebook. He accused the far right leaders of "playing poker with our securities", like British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is doing with the Brexit, AD reports.
Sep 5 '19 12:40
Prime Minister Mark Rutte lashed out at PVV parliamentarian Raymond de Roon over a sexist remark he made during a parliamentary debate on top European appointments on Thursday. While discussing the appointment of German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen as president of the European Commission, De Roon spoke of "a ladies' circle" and Rutte could not contain his irritation, AD reports.
Sep 5 '19 10:17
The appeal in the hate speech trial against PVV leader Geert Wilders will continue as planned, The Hague court of appeal said on Thursday. The court will not decide whether the Public Prosecution Service was justified in prosecuting the PVV leader and whether there was political interference in the decision until the final ruling in the hate speech case, the court said, NU.nl reports.
Sep 3 '19 18:10
As the appeal in the hate speech case against PVV leader Geert Wilders continued in the high security court at Schiphol on Tuesday, his lawyer Geert-Jan Knoops demanded that the case be declared inadmissible due to political interference in the decision to prosecute, NOS reports. The prosecutor denied that any interference occurred, and pressed for the case to move forward as scheduled.
Aug 30 '19 17:20
Former Justice Minsiter Ivo Opstelten and the Public Prosecution Service discussed the prosecution of PVV leader Geert Wilders for hate speech even before the Public Prosecution Service had made the decision to prosecute the nationalist politician, RTL Nieuws report based on a secret official document it received from the Ministry of Justice and Security. Wilders is furious and demands that the case against him be dropped
Aug 29 '19 11:00
A report stating that Amsterdam is losing the fight against organized crime led to alarmed and shocked reactions from politicians in The Hague. Parliamentarians call on the government to invest more into combating this issue, the Telegraaf reports.
The report stated that the authorities have little insight into drug economy and -crime, that the police have basically given up the fight against drugs, and that the judiciary is failing to tackle real crime structures.
Jul 4 '19 10:30
Left-wing opposition parties GroenLinks and PvdA are demanding some changes to the Climate Agreement before they will support it in the Senate. "If you think that we are applauding, then you are wrong", PvdA leader Lodewijk Asscher said during the first parliamentary debate on the Agreement on Wednesday, NOS reports. "If there are no concrete solutions, you can forget our support."
Jul 3 '19 15:09
The Public Prosecutor's office (OM) demanded a five thousand euro fine from Geert Wilders, the leader of far right nationalist party PVV. The sentence recommendation was made during the prosecution's closing argument in a court case stemming from Wilders's political rally speech just before the elections in March 2014.
Jun 28 '19 11:10
On the second day of the appeal in the hate-speech trial against PVV leader Geert Wilders on Thursday, claimants could demand compensation from the politician and explain why they think they deserve it. Demands ranged from apologies to actual monetary amounts between a symbolic 1 euro to over 30 thousand euros, NU.nl reports.
Jun 21 '19 15:10
A former civil servant who was going to testify in the hate speech trial against PVV leader Geert Wilders, decided to not testify after all, according to Wilders' lawyer Geert-Jan Knoops. The man is afraid that he will be prosecuted by the Public Prosecution Service, the lawyer said to AD.
Jun 19 '19 15:26
Dutch PM: Misinformation from Russia will neither impact, nor tarnish the investigation.
Russia: No evidence to support "groundless" investigation claim.
Jun 12 '19 09:30
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.
May 31 '19 11:17
Twitter temporarily suspended the account of PVV leader Geert Wilders, due to a tweet he posted about the D66, according to screenshots tweeted by other PVV members. The company informed the anti-Islam, populist politician that he violated their "rules against hateful conduct".
Wilders is outraged. "Unbelievable, a Twitter block for criticizing [D66 leader Rob] Jetten", Wilders said to NOS. "Temporarily with the threat added that it can be made permanent. Senders of death threats to me are often tolerated by Twitter, but a factual tweet from me about a colleague is not. Madness."
May 29 '19 09:15
The Tweede Kamer, the lower house of Dutch parliament, wants Minister Ferdinand Grapperhaus of Justice and Security to create a legislative proposal to ban gay conversion therapy. Parliamentarians called such "cures"' for one's sexuality "indigestible" and "harmful", the Telegraaf reports.
This VVD proposal got support from a majority in the Kamer, including from the D66, GroenLinks, SP and PvdA. Christian parties CDA, ChristenUnie and SGP, and populists PVV and FvD voted against.
May 29 '19 08:41
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.
May 27 '19 12:20
Nexit advocate Geert Wilders doesn't believe that his anti-Islam PVV will disappear from the European Parliament for good after the party's crushing defeat in the European elections last week. He called the results of the elections "disappointing" on Twitter, but added: "The PVV will be back. We have the best ideas."
According to the provisional results of ANP's election service, the PVV lost all four its seats in the European Parliament.
May 27 '19 07:41
Almost all the votes in the European Parliament elections have been counted. As exit polls predicted, the PvdA is the big winner in the Netherlands. While the exit polls said Labour would get five seats, the party now stands at six. Populist PVV and socialists SP walk away with no seats, RTL Nieuws reports.
May 24 '19 07:53
PVV leader Geert Wilders is disappointed by the exit polls results for the European Parliament elections. His anti-EU party received 4.1 percent of the votes, compared to 13.3 percent in the previous European elections. That means that his PVV will lose three of its four seats.
May 16 '19 11:00
The Ministry of Justice and Security hid the number of serious crimes committed by asylum seekers in the Netherlands by including crimes like sexual offenses, aggravated assaults, and murder and manslaughter or attempts thereto under the heading of "other" in figures released to parliament, the Telegraaf reports.
Apr 29 '19 10:50
Peter van Dijk, PVV leader in Zeeland and senator for the party, misused public money to campaign for the Provincial States elections, NRC reports based on documents, bank statements and audio recordings.
The rules of the province of Zeeland explicitly prohibit using community money for election campaigns, according to the newspaper. This is seen as subsidy fraud. Van Dijk is accused of violating the rules in his position as leader of the PVV faction in Zeeland.
Apr 4 '19 08:40
Minister Sander Dakker for Legal Protection acknowledged in a parliamentary debate on Wednesday that he bears political responsibility for mistakes made in the treatment of Michael P., the man who raped and murdered 25-year-old Anne Faber from Utrecht in 2017. At the same time he asked parliament to trust him to also solve the problems. He survived the debate, NU.nl reports.
"I feel the responsibility in my every fiber", Dekker said. "One of my most important tasks is to protect society from people like Michael P."
Mar 23 '19 19:00
Nearly ten thousand people rallied in Amsterdam on Saturday calling for an end to racism and divisiveness in Dutch politics. The event began on Dam Square and then progressed to the monument on Daniël Meijerplein, but counter-protestors along the way were arrested for allegedly disturbing the peace.
Mar 21 '19 08:04
FvD leader Thierry Baudet believes that his party's victory in the Provincial States election is punishment for the "arrogance and stupidity" of the Netherlands' current leaders. In his victory speech he emphasized that FvD is now one of the largest parties in the country, and that a change has been set in motion. "Economic and political capitulation is coming to an end", he said, NOS reports.
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