VNG

31 mayors of larger Dutch cities are calling on the Senate not to remove the appointment of mayors from the Dutch constitution, and to keep the procedure as is. Removing the appointment procedure from the constitution is the first step in enabling an elected mayor. The mayors are worried that this will result in them losing their connecting role as "father or mother for all residents, businesses and institutions", they wrote in an open letter to the Senate, the Volkskrant reports.

State Secretary Paul Blokhuis of Public Health will critically look into the cause of the increased number of suicides in the Netherlands, he said on Tuesday. He wants to know what caused the increase, and whether it is a one-time peak or if something else is going on, NU.nl reports.

Between six and 10 Dutch municipalities will experiment with regulated cannabis cultivation and sale, according to a bill sent to the police, the Public Prosecutor and the Association of Dutch municipalities, among others, the Volkskrant reports.

The experiment will last for five years and two months, one year of which will be used on preparation. Cannabis cultivators will be recruited through a tender. For the period of the experiment, they will only be allowed to grow weed for the experiment, and not for other sales.

Young people who are ordered by the juvenile court to undergo therapy face waiting times of up to one year before their therapy can start, the Volkskrant reports based on its own research. 

There was a significant increase in the number of complaints regarding youth care in the Netherlands during the first half of this year, according to the advice and complaint office for youth care AKJ. In the first half of 2016 there were 6,465 complaints, compared to a total of 7,404 throughout all of 2015

Housing corporations association Aedes, the Housing Association and the association of Dutch municipalities VNG are calling for the landlords tax to be abolished. A study by the University of Groningen showes that the tax has a negative impact on the availability of social housing and on households with low incomes,

The Netherlands plans to give people who are deeply in debt a six month break in which they don't have to make payments, won't get reminders for payments and won't get a visit from a bailiff, State Secretary Jetta Klijnsma of Social Affairs and Minister Ard van der Steur of Security and Justice announced on Tuesday

Dutch Mayors expressed their discontent towards the government's asylum seeker plan in the lower house of Dutch parliament on Wednesday and made it clear that they see the commitments required from the municipalities unwise and unclear, NOS reports. The Mayors had nothing good to say about the cost the government will impose on municipalities for failing to adhere to the plan.

After a three day strike, garbage collectors of the municipal services are back to work today in Amsterdam, Utrecht and Groningen. The workers have not been collecting trash in these three big cities since Monday, in protest of stalled collective labour agreement talks.

Garbage collectors of the municipal services in Amsterdam, Utrecht and Groningen are going to be on strike until Wednesday this week, in relation to disagreements about a new collective labour agreement for municipal officials.

The UN refugee camp Al Zaatari in the north of Jordan is going to receive aid from the municipality of Amsterdam, the Association of Dutch Municipalities and the cabinet, to help solve problems such as waste management and water access.