VVD

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.

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. 

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.

The leaders of right-wing VVD and far-right FvD debated each other in the Rode Hoed in Amsterdam on Wednesday evening, the eve of the European Parliament elections in the Netherlands on Thursday. The sometimes fierce debate ranged from topics like leaving the euro to FvD leader Thierry Baudet's stance on women and the last time VVD leader Mark Rutte shed a tear. Baudet accused Rutte of "fear mongering" and Rutte called Baudet a "Russia lover", RTL Nieuws reports.

FvD leader Thierry Baudet is facing criticism from other party leaders over a video he posted on Twitter. The video features women telling how they were sexually assaulted or raped by migrants and blaming politicians who "refuse to protect our borders", showing photos of GroenLinks leader Jesse Klaver, VVD leader Mark Rutte and D66 leader Rob Jetten at the end.

In the run-up to the European Parliament elections next week, Prime Minister Mark Rutte is talking about his vision for Europe. According to the VVD leader, his ideas about that have shifted.  "Europe is market and currency, but a point has been added", he said to Nieuwsuur on Wednesday night. That point is safety. Without the European Union, the Netherlands is just a small country on its own in a big and increasingly volatile world. 

The rainbow crosswalk in Hardewijk was vandalized. A seemingly religious message was found spray painted on the crossing on Wednesday morning. "Sodom and Gomorrah are still there as a warning example", the text read, translated from Dutch. And: "Choose life."

Martijn Pijnenburg, D66 leader in Hardewijk, posted photos of the vandalism on Twitter "The rainbow crosswalk in Hardewijk smeared with religious insanity", he tweeted. "In one word: disgusting."

The municipality removed the text later on Wednesday morning. 

A majority in the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of Dutch parliament, want the number of night flights at Schiphol to be reduced. Some parties even want night flights to be scrapped completely. The Kamer will discuss aviation with Minister Cora van Nieuwenhuizen of Infrastructure and Water Management on Thursday, RTL Nieuws reports.

Prime Minister Mark Rutte thinks that we should not go too crazy with taking climate measures. "We still have to live a good life", he said in the Ochtend Show to go on Thursday morning, AD reports. "We still have to be able to barbecue."

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." 

Rotterdam is introducing a limited fireworks ban from this New Year's. Neighborhoods where things got out of hand and there were firework related incidents in the past, will be banned from lighting fireworks on New Year's. While quiet neighborhoods will still be allowed to do so, the city council decided on Thursday night, RTV Rijnmond reports.