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.
VVD
Sep 18 '19 10:37
Prime Minister Mark Rutte, MPs and lawyers are shocked by the murder of criminal law attorney Derk Wiersum in Amsterdam on Wednesday morning, calling it an attack on the rule of law. "Very disturbing reports", Rutte said to reporters in response to the lawyer's death. Justice Minister Ferdinand Grapperhaus is currently being informed about what the authorities know so far. "As soon as any announcements can be made, that will happen", the Prime Minister said.
Sep 17 '19 13:20
Coalition parties CDA and D66 are angry with VVD Minister Eric Wiebes of Economic Affairs because he revealed information from the King's Budget Day speech and the government's budget a day before Budget Day. Prime Minister Mark Rutte received three requests from coalition partners to reprimand Wiebes, AD reports.
Sep 17 '19 11:10
Four political parties have teamed up on a proposal to reduce the highway speed limit in Den Haag to 80 kilometers per hour. The parties, including the city’s governing coalition members GroenLinks and D66, have also called for a ban on older diesel vehicles and an expansion of the city’s environmental zones.
The rule changes also have the backing of the animal rights party PvdD and the Christian party bloc CU/SGP. Together the four groups represent 20 of the city’s 45 council seats.
Sep 16 '19 17:10
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.
Sep 16 '19 15:30
The government must better promote Dutch history and ensure that the Netherlands' "birth certificates" are exhibited in a prominent and public place, according to CDA leader Pieter Heerma and VVD leader Klaas Dijkhoff. They want the Plakkaat van Verlatinghe (1581), the Unie van Utrecht (1579) and the Apologie van Willem van Oranje (1580) to be made jointly accessible to the general public, they said to AD.
Sep 13 '19 12:30
The Amsterdam Museum will stop using the term 'Golden Age', because it does not cover all sides of the period. Instead it will refer to the period as the 17th century, the museum announced.
According to curator Tom van der Molen, the term Golden Age is linked to national pride and "the many negative aspects of the 17th century such as poverty, war, slavery and human trafficking" are ignored, he said to NU.nl. In the 17th century he Netherlands was a world power in economic and military terms.
Sep 11 '19 15:32
Children at Salafist mosque schools in the Netherlands are taught Sharia law, and are taught the death penalty is appropriate for people with a different religion or belief system, according to a study by Nieuwsuur and NRC. The report has parliamentarians concerned.
Sep 11 '19 14:30
The VVD wants banks to check city council members for money laundering and signs of links to the criminal underworld, like the payment systems of national politicians are already monitored, VVD parliamentarian Roald van der Linde said to BNR.
Sep 11 '19 08:29
Ruling parties VVD and D66 think that the Netherlands can be a world leader when it comes to electric air travel. And to achieve that the Netherlands should do much more to stimulate and experiment with electric flying, VVD parliamentarian Remco Dijkstra and D66 parliamentarian Jan Paternotte proposed during a parliamentary debate on aviation, NOS reports.
Sep 9 '19 13:10
Coalition party D66 wants to reduce the number of livestock in the Netherlands by half. This will reduce nitrogen emissions, and create more room to build new houses, D66 parliamentarian Tjeerd de Groot said to RTL Nieuws.
It's a simple calculation, according to De Groot. "70 percent of Dutch nitrogen emissions come from agriculture, a large part of which comes from intensive livestock farming. That is huge. At the same time, the contribution of intensive livestock farming to our own economy is not even 1 percent. The ratio is completely missing."
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 3 '19 11:00
The PvdA also wants to get rid of the student loan system and reintroduce the basic study grant, joining the call of Coalitie-Y - an initiative of the ChristenUnie and youth organization who want to take measures to give more certainty to the next generation of young people. A vast majority in parliament now supports this plan, NU.nl reports.
Sep 2 '19 12:00
Early next year coalition party D66 will submit a legislative proposal to make assisted suicide possible at the end of a "full" and "completed" life, parliamentarian Pia Dijkstra said in an interview with newspaper AD. The bill is a sensitive topic for Christian parties and coalition partners CDA and ChristenUnie, according to the newspaper.
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.
Aug 23 '19 08:36
The coalition parties in the Rutte III government reached broad agreements on the focus of the Netherlands' tax plans for next year. Low- and middle-income households must see an improvement in their purchasing power. And it must become easier for people starting out on the housing market to find a home, NOS reports.
"We have taken further steps on our way to Prinsjesdag", Prime Minister and VVD leader Mark Rutte said after an hours long meeting between the coalition parties and the Ministry of Finance, which ended at around midnight on Thursday.
Aug 19 '19 10:10
Prime Minister Mark Rutte was a guest on the Villa Lowlands talk show at the Lowlands festival in Biddinghuizen on Sunday - the first time ever that a Dutch Prime Minister visited the festival, according to Het Parool. Rutte called it "a successful Lowlands debut" on Twitter afterwards.
Dressed in a gray polo shirt, jeans and blue All Star sneakers, the Prime Minister was taken on a tour of the festival before being interviewed by presenters Roel Maalderink and Martijn de Greve.
Aug 15 '19 08:15
The Amsterdam police will investigate how information about the arrest of mayor Femke Halsema's 15-year-old son leaked to newspaper De Telegraaf. The investigation will be conducted by the Security, Integrity and Complaints Office of the Amsterdam police unit, AD reports.
Aug 12 '19 09:22
The Dutch Safety Board launched an exploratory investigation into the partial collapse of the AFAS stadium's roof during a storm in Alkmaar on Saturday. Football team AZ is also conducting an independent investigation. The stadium is currently inaccessible, which means that AZ can play no home matches at the stadium for the time being, NU.nl reports.
Aug 5 '19 12:00
The PvdA faction in Amsterdam received a storm of negative reactions because of a photo posted on the party's Twitter account on Saturday. In the photo, PvdA councilor in Amsterdam Hendrik Jan Biemond is posing in a yellow burka with other burka wearing people from the LGBTQ community during Canal Pride in Amsterdam on Saturday, AD reports.
Aug 2 '19 14:10
A total of 1,289 muggings were registered in Amsterdam last year. In nearly 80 of these street robberies, the victim was robbed of their watch or jewelry. More than 300 phones were stolen, Het Parool reports based on answers given to questions from VVD and PvdA city councilors.
The muggings often happen on or around routes to entertainment areas, parks and train station. Over a quarter of last year's muggings happened in Amsterdam city center. The area around the Red Light District and Dam Square was most often targeted by muggers.
Jul 12 '19 10:20
The Rutte III government is more popular than ever, with 47 percent of Dutch saying they are satisfied with the VVD, CDA, D66 and ChristenUnie coalition, according to a poll by I&O Research. That is the highest satisfaction percentage the government had since it took office in October 2017. At the start of this year, only 33 percent of Dutch were satisfied with Rutte III, AD reports.
Jul 12 '19 08:19
After months of negotiations, the coalition parties reached an agreement on how to arrange custody for families with more than two parents and surrogacy by law. Dutch kids will soon be able to legally have up to four parents, and the rights of surrogates and the parents who use them will be laid down in law, RTL Nieuws reports based on a draft letter to parliament in its possession.
The Council of Ministers will discuss the proposal on Friday.
Pages
