Dutch food safety authority NVWA is facing fierce criticism in the Tweede Kamer on Thursday. The parliamentarians have nothing good to say about the NVWA's actions in dealing with millions of Dutch eggs being contaminated by toxic insecticide fipronil. In summary, the MPs accused the NVWA of not communicating well, not responding adequately to an anonymous tip about the contamination and having an inadequate setup to deal with such a crisis, NU.nl reports.
SGP
Jul 21 '17 14:15
It seems that Christian party SGP is extending its fight against extending the Dutch euthanasia law to the outside world. SGP leader Kees van der Staaij published an opinion piece in American newspaper The Wall Street Journal under the headline: "In the Netherlands, the doctor will kill you".
"Is the day coming that it will be normal for old people to take a pill and simply disappear?" Van der Staaij wrote, according to the Volkskrant. According to him, the Netherlands is on a slippery slope.
Jul 12 '17 15:10
Dutch parliamentarians are shocked that a court ordered a Hague school to pay compensation to a mother whose kids missed the class photo. The kids missed the class photo because it was taken during Eid al-Adha, and the court ordered the school to pay their mother 500 euros in compensation.
Jun 14 '17 09:12
GroenLinks leader Jesse Klaver had to defend himself from all sides in a parliamentary debate about the stalled government formation talks between his party and the VVD, CDA and D66. "We will not send anyone back to countries where it is unsafe", Klaver said in the Tweede Kamer. But the other party leaders did not seem to be buying it, NU.nl reports.
Jun 7 '17 08:48
The Hague politician Abdoe Khoulani is under fire from Jewish interest organization CJO and from other politicians for statements he made. He called a group of Israeli students "future child killers and Zionist terrorists in the making" on social media and called a female colleague a "blonde bitch", AD reports.
May 31 '17 11:32
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.
May 16 '17 07:52
On Thursday evening Edith Schippers announced that government formation talks between the VVD, CDA, D66 and GroenLinks collapsed. The parties could not agree on a migration policy, and there were problems agreeing to issues concerning climate change, sustainability and income equality.
May 8 '17 14:15
Outraged reactions flooded social media after Christian party SGP revealed a poster invitation to a discussion event in Olderbroek, Gelderland. The poster shows a picture of a bomb and the words "Is Islam a threat to the Netherlands?" The poster was designed by the national office of the SGP youth division, according to Omroep Gelderland.
Apr 27 '17 14:30
Dutch King Willem-Alexander turns 50 years old today. A number of political party leaders took a moment to wish him a happy birthday. "It only gets better [after 50]", CDA leader Sybrand Buma said to RTL Nieuws.
"I would like to congratulate him on his 50th birthday. And everyone around him too, of course", SGP leader Kees van der Staaij said to the broadcaster. "I want to wish him a lot of wisdom. For what can a king use better than wisdom? I especially hope that he stays who he is."
Apr 19 '17 09:11
The voting behavior of Dutch-Turks in the recent Turkish referendum breathed new life into debate on dual-nationality in the Netherlands. Of the Dutch-Turks who voted in the referendum, 71 percent voted pro-Erdogan.
Apr 12 '17 11:50
The vast majority of Dutch parliamentarians wants the government to punish schools who do not teach LGBT awareness and acceptance lessons. Almost the entire Tweede Kamer, the lower house of Dutch parliament, supported the motion filed by SP parliamentarian Jasper van Dijk, NOS reports.
According to the Education Inspectorate, about 20 percent of primary- and high schools don't teach their students about sexual diversity, despite this being mandatory since 2012. The same is true for about 40 percent of the ROCs.
Mar 29 '17 08:56
The first formal and substantive negotiations for forming a government with the VVD, CDA, D66 and GroenLinks start at 9:30 this morning. The parties will try to find common ground and make agreements on a number of major issues, including employment, income distribution, the tax system, the energy transition and the environment, security and defense, immigration and integration, education and healthcare, NOS reports.
Mar 13 '17 09:04
A quarter of Dutch believe that if a woman dresses sexy, she should not complain when she hears sexual comments, according to a survey by research firm Ipsos on behalf of Rutgers, a knowledge center on sexuality. And 13 percent believe that girls who wear short skirts should not complain when they are harassed, AD reports.
Mar 10 '17 08:54
SGP party leader Kees van der Staaij brutally attacked the D66 and its leader Alexander Pechtold in the Christian debate in Ede on Thursday. Van der Staaij compared Pechtold's "radical secular ideology" with radical Islam, BNR reports.
Mar 10 '17 08:31
The Christian party leader debate in Ede on Thursday evening was guarded by heavily armed police officers due to a "threat". The debate in the CineMec finished without incident, AD reports.
Several police units responded to the CineMec on Thursday night. Heavily armed officers stood in front of the building, two riot police vans were on site and policemen with machine guns and bulletproof vests were on the building's roof, according to the newspaper.
Mar 1 '17 09:09
While it does not seem that the first televised election debate on RTL on Sunday had much affect on the polls, Maurice de Hond's latest poll does show left-leaning parties CDA and PvdA each gaining slightly more support and going up one seat. Right-wing PVV's support continues to dwindle slowly. Elderly party 50Plus took quite a blow this past week, losing almost half of its support.
Feb 21 '17 10:15
Christian parties SGP and ChristenUnie are unimpressed by a comment posted on Twitter by SP alderman in Arnhem Gerrie Elfrink. The tweet was directed at the Kees van der Staaij avatar Elfrink is caring for on the Kamergotchi app. "Keesie I am God! If I forget to feed you, that's my wish! First be vaccinated, pervert", Elfrink tweeted.
Feb 16 '17 13:35
Voters will have quite a selection to choose from in the parliamentary elections next month when it comes to picking a political party based on the financial and economic choices, according to calculations by Dutch central planning office CPB. A major difference between this and last election is that the parties are focused on spending money now that the economy is recovering, instead of the 2012 election's focus on cutbacks in the aftermath of the financial crisis, NU.nl reports.
Feb 8 '17 15:50
Dutch voters have little confidence in the country's current healthcare system, which was implemented 11 years ago. 57 percent of voters want the government to take back control of healthcare instead of insurers, according to a study Ipsos did for Dutch newspaper Trouw.
Feb 1 '17 11:45
Small Christian party SGP created an anti-Islam manifesto with plans to set limits to the presence of Islam in the Netherlands and to protect the Netherlands against the "radical excesses" of this belief. According to the party, many Dutch are right to worry about the rise of Islam in the country, NOS reports.
Jan 12 '17 13:55
RTL Nieuws managed to break into the social media accounts of various politicians by using previously leaked passwords. With some of them, including the Twitter account of SGP leader Kees van der Staaij, the journalists left a message to show that they were there.
"This account has been leaked and is therefore vulnerable to hackers. Signed Daniel Verlaan and Siebe Sietsma of RTL Nieuws", a tweet read on Van der Staaij's account. The tweet has since been removed. They also broke into CDA Pieter Omtzigt's LinedIn account and various other unnamed politicians' Facebook accounts.
Jan 6 '17 12:10
The SGP faction in Zwartewaterland is calling for the return of the death penalty. "Whoever sheds man's blood, his blood shall be shed by man", faction leader Dirk van der Sluis quoted the bible at newspaper AD. "Returning the death penalty is God's word and therefore an important reason why we want to do so."
Dec 16 '16 10:07
A proposal by VNL to scrap the ban on group defamation, hate speech and discrimination from the Penal Code was rejected by a majority in Dutch parliament on Thursday. A large majority of the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of Dutch parliament, found the proposal not well thought out as it opens the door to discrimination directed at vulnerable groups such as Jews, Muslims, women, LGBT and disabled people, NU.nl reports.
Dec 7 '16 08:25
A majority in the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of Dutch parliament, voted against a proposal to ban foreign financing for Dutch political parties. The proposal was rejected by right-wing parties VVD, PVV and VNL and Christian parties CDA, ChristenUnie and SGP, NU.nl reports.
