Expatica Dutch news forum http://forum.expatica.com/index.php Sun, 22 Nov 2009 00:18:17 +0100 5 http://www.expatica.com/i/gate/exp-logo.gif http://forum.expatica.com/index.php http://forum.expatica.com/index.php?showtopic=115696
In the town of Zuidplas, her 'Trots Op Nederland' (Proud on The Netherlands) won 2 seats. The victory marks Verdonk's return on the national stage, where she had been languishing as national polls saw her party being voted out of Parliament in the next general election.

Reinvigorated, Verdonk shouted "we're back in!" when the results of Wednesday's by-elections in Zuidplas came in.

Verdonk sees her victory in Zuidplas as the first comeback in national politics, even though the elections were local. Verdonk is planning to compete in the local elections of 2010 in cities like Amsterdam and Rotterdam, cities where the party of Geert Wilders is not competing.

Political analysts are expecting Verdonk to do well in municipalities where Wilders' party is not competing. Wilders' party will participate in only two cities, Almere and The Hague.

Parties that opposed Rita Verdonk's hard-right immigration and integration policies benefited strongly during the municipal elections of 2006. Verdonk was then a government minister for the conservative VVD, which at the time made up the right-wing government together with the christian democratic CDA and market liberal D66.]]> Thu, 19 Nov 2009 11:07:25 +0100 http://forum.expatica.com/index.php?showtopic=115696 http://forum.expatica.com/index.php?showtopic=115632 Three men killed in Dutch crash

[video]

Three British men have been killed and two others seriously injured in a car crash in The Netherlands, after they allegedly raided a cash machine.

Two men from Liverpool, aged 21 and 27, and a 25-year-old man from London were killed when their car hit the central reservation of the A12 near Utrecht.

Two other men, aged 25 and 28, and from Liverpool, suffered serious injuries in the crash on Friday night.

They have been arrested on suspicion of burglary, Dutch police said.

A police spokesman for Gelderland Midden police force said officers had received reports of a cash machine raid at a supermarket in the town of Driel.

Security dye

Police believed the three dead men were involved in the raid, he said.

He said by the time police arrived at the cash machine the suspects had fled. About 20 minutes later, officers received a report of a car crash on the A12 in Maarsbergen.

When they attended the scene, they found five men in the car, which contained a substantial amount of cash covered in a security dye.

The 25-year-old from London was pronounced dead at the scene and the two men from Liverpool died in hospital over the weekend, the spokesman confirmed.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england...ide/8362116.stm

]]> Tue, 17 Nov 2009 01:04:48 +0100 http://forum.expatica.com/index.php?showtopic=115632 http://forum.expatica.com/index.php?showtopic=115171
The police are often abused. This week Naeyé said that police officers submitted 1,250 formal reports about threats and around 6,900 about insults. Last year he report a report stating that violence against police officers had tripled since 1996. Jeering and intimidation increased 600% during the same period.

This is in line with the Justice minister's latest measures to make it easier for police officers to deal with people who do this. At this point their hands are tied and they are expected to act with reserve.

Naeyé thinks that the fine should be 750 euros for insulting a police officer. He has looked at thousands of files to see what's happening. Some of the insults include ‘kankerlijers’ (this means 'cancer sufferer' and is close to being the worst thing you can say to a Dutch person), ‘NSB’ers’ (these were Dutch Nazis during the war) and ‘verraders’ (traitors). Other threats: 'I'll slaughter you like a sheep'.

The professor (a former police inspector) thinks that the increase in verbal abuse comes from the common belief that people are free to say what they want. "We've developed a free society that has turned out to be free for all. Not everyone can handle it."]]> Fri, 30 Oct 2009 09:30:04 +0100 http://forum.expatica.com/index.php?showtopic=115171 http://forum.expatica.com/index.php?showtopic=115577 http://www.ad.nl/ad/nl/1004/Economie/artic...op-3-cent.dhtml

http://www.ad.nl/ad/nl/1004/Economie/artic...erheffing.dhtml

http://www.nos.nl/nosjournaal/artikelen/20...ningrijden.html

The Dutch are going to go ahead with plans to introduce a charge for using the roads (kilometerheffing). Starting in 2012, it will cost an average of 3 cents a kilometre to drive on a Dutch road. By 2018 that will rise to 6.7 cents. It is thought that this will reduce the distance driven on Dutch roads by 15% and traffic congestion by 50%.

[So let's say you drive 10,000 km a year. For you, the annual tax will amount to 670 euros in 2018. It will also be possible to charge motorists who drive during peak hours a higher rate, but they haven't introduced that yet.]

[They'll know how much a motorist drives because of a device that will be installed in every vehicle. The information from the device will go straight to a government office. From this they will be able to tell when you drive, where you drive and how far you drive.]

There are already taxes on ownership of a vehicle. The first is called motorrijtuigenbelasting or wegenbelasting. The second is called aanschafbelasting or bpm. These will be eliminated in the new system.

According to the Minister of Traffic and Water Management (Camiel Eurlings) 59% of people will pay less. 25% will pay about the same. 16% will pay more.

The ANWB supports the plan in general, but wants to calculate first how much it will actually cost motorits. Heavy transport companies support the plan. Employers are generally positive, but say that it must not lead to higher costs for businesses.

The Tweede Kamer is divided on this issue. The governing coalition parties agree with it. 'Most people will pay less and face fewer traffic jams, so that is good news. And those who use the roads for business will be compensated by the fact they're stuck less in traffic congestion', says MP Ger Koopmans (CDA). MP Lia Roefs (PvdA) says that 'an important hurdle' has now been crossed. Steps taken by Eurlings are now 'irreversible', she said with satisfaction. Even the CU is happy. 'This law is one of the most important reforms of this cabinet', says MP Ernst Cramer (CU), who also called law fair and right for the environment.

But the opposition parties of all stripes (VVD, SP, PVV) are critical. Even GroenLinks sees problems with it.

The VVD says that is a 'scandalous gouging' of motorists. According to VVD MP Charlie Aptroot, the tax paid by someone who drives 12,500 per year will rise from 800 euros now to 900 euros in 2018. 'It's yet another tax increase gouging motorists, certainly those who have to face traffic congestion when they drive to work. It's the builders, the teachers, who will be gouged.'

Aptroot also says the introduction of the new system will cost 4 billion euros and is not going to work anyway. 'Soon 9 million tax invoices will have to be sent out every month. Also, the government will know exactly where you've driven your car. Not even the Soviet Union did that.'

The SP calls it a 'traffic congestion tax'. They think the whole project is too expensive and too complicated.

GroenLinks MP Kees Vendrick is in favour of it in principle, but thinks that the tax is not high enough for heavy goods vehicles. He also wants the extra tax for peak hours introduced sooner. Natuur en Mileu (a prominent environmental organisation) say the same: they want it all to come sooner.]]> Sat, 14 Nov 2009 09:21:50 +0100 http://forum.expatica.com/index.php?showtopic=115577 http://forum.expatica.com/index.php?showtopic=115576 http://www.ad.nl/ad/nl/1040/Den-Haag/artic...n-zwemmen.dhtml

Starting 1 January The Hague will no longer have men-only and women-only swimming times. Municipal councillor Sander Dekker (VVD) said on Wednesday that public facilities must be generally accessible. According to Dekker, segregated swimming in municipal swimming pools "for religious or other reasons" led to tensions. "In addition, we want sport to be a way for people in The Hague to know each other. This is why we've chosen to eliminate segregated swimming"
]]> Sat, 14 Nov 2009 08:18:40 +0100 http://forum.expatica.com/index.php?showtopic=115576 http://forum.expatica.com/index.php?showtopic=115310
http://www.parool.nl/parool/nl/224/BINNENL...larisatie.dhtml

Minister Guusje ter Horst (Ministry of the Interior) says that in no way will she or does she want to influence the report on radicalisation and polarisation.

She also says a separate investigation of the PVV had not been conducted. "I'm not interested in the PVV", she said.

Pechtold wants her to release the report right away.

http://www.ad.nl/ad/nl/1012/Binnenland/art...-Pechtold.dhtml

(On a TV programme about the report, Alexander Pechtold (the omnipresent leader of the D66) also said that Wilders was"dangerous to the state", extreme right and "sowing hate".)

Two organisations created to keep Pim Fortuyn's legacy alive (Stichting Vrienden van Pim Fortuyn and Stichting Beeld van Pim) together laid an information with the police against Pechtold. "Pechtold has gone too far", they say.

(So why report this to the police?) "By laying the information, we want to prevent a third politically motivated murder from being committed after the murder of Pim Fortuyn and Theo van Gogh.'' "By making these statements Pechtold is insulting a large part of the people who support both Pim Fortuyn and Geert Wilders. We couldn't let this go."

(By the way, Pechtold's name appears in these reports because he is an articulate media figure and effectively the leader of the opposition in this country. His party was devastated in the last polls, but there is no one else really. The labour party is in the governing coalition with the CDA.)]]> Wed, 04 Nov 2009 09:27:38 +0100 http://forum.expatica.com/index.php?showtopic=115310 http://forum.expatica.com/index.php?showtopic=115169 http://www.telegraaf.nl/binnenland/5195996...t__.html?p=12,1

http://www.trouw.nl/nieuws/nederland/artic...t_land_uit.html

The two Justice ministers (Ernst Hirsch Ballin and Nebahat Albayrak) are planning to introduce stricter laws making it easier to deport aliens who have been found guilty of criminal acts. This will be discussed in cabinet today, according to sources in The Hague. If someone is sentenced to one month imprisonment, he or she will lose his residence permit if they've been in the Netherlands for less than a year. If someone is sentenced to eight years, he or she will be deported if they've been in the Netherlands for less than 20 years. People who have committed offences relating to indecency, spousal abuse, human trafficking, drugs, weapons, etc will be deported twice as fast. Children under 18 will also be deported if they get five convictions. This change was actually introduced by Rita Verdonk, but her rules were considered too harsh. Even bicycle thieves would have been deported.

]]> Fri, 30 Oct 2009 09:04:00 +0100 http://forum.expatica.com/index.php?showtopic=115169 http://forum.expatica.com/index.php?showtopic=115142 http://www.volkskrant.nl/binnenland/articl...n_voor_Kinderen

Geert Wilders has something new to criticise: Children for Children. (This is a children's choir associated with a television network called VARA. It releases feel-good singles once in a while for charity.)

The problem? It has a song called "Baklava of Rijstevla" in which the children sing "Allah Akbar" several times. This is Arabic for "God is great". Muslims use the term in prayer and in many other situations, including just when saying that they approve of something.

Kinderen voor Kinderen has been singing children's songs since 1980. The song is about a child of Moroccan origin living in the Netherlands who is at a crossroads.

The PVV calls the children's song "Muslim propaganda directed at our children" and sees it as humiliating for Dutch people. For this reason he's putting questions about it to the Minister of Culture.]]> Thu, 29 Oct 2009 08:24:23 +0100 http://forum.expatica.com/index.php?showtopic=115142 http://forum.expatica.com/index.php?showtopic=115336 http://www.parool.nl/parool/nl/1244/De-Wal...van-Cohen.dhtml

http://www.parool.nl/parool/nl/5/POLITIEK/...eert-niet.dhtml

Casa Rosso, a famous live sex club in Amsterdam, is owned by a man named Jan Otten, who also owns the Bananebar and a few peepshow places. The city of Amsterdam was going to pull his license because it was considered that there was a 'serious danger' of abuse by criminals. Further research has shown, however, that 'there is less danger' than thought and there were insufficient reasons to close the businesses. In particular, it has turned out that Otten is not fronting for sex baron 'Fat Charlie' (Dikke Charles) Geerts, even though this is who gave him the loan to start up the business. Mayor Job Cohen is reluctant to say this though. He says only, 'After we received and reviewed all the documents, we saw insufficient reason to withdraw the license. Let's leave it at that.'

The fact it took two years for Otten to get a final answer about this can be blamed on Otten himself, says Cohen. 'It involved foreign financing and other matters. We wanted to find out how it all connected. That only happened in September of this year.' This will have no influence on the clean-up of the red light district. 'Some have suggested that we want to close down the red light district, but that's not the case. We want the relationships there to be clear and transparent. That's the case now, which means the business owner can get a license. That's the approach taken in the red light district policy.'

In a press conference on Wednesday, Otten's lawyer laid the blame for the delay on the government's BIBOB office, not the city of Amsterdam. (BIBOB is the law that allows businesses to be investigated for criminal activity before they get a license or contract.) Otten and his lawyer are going to raise this in a parliamentary inquiry and they're also thinking of asking for compensation for Otten (it's cost him about a million so far just in legal fees). Ijzendijk also says that the delay wasn't caused by their failure to provide information, but the way the city carried out the Q & A over an extended period of time.

An emotional Otten (67) said that he did think of stopping, but kept going because of his 150 employees. He said all Amsterdam should be happy with this. Conference organisers have told him that fewer conferences will be held in Amsterdam if Casa Rosso closes down.]]> Thu, 05 Nov 2009 08:00:36 +0100 http://forum.expatica.com/index.php?showtopic=115336 http://forum.expatica.com/index.php?showtopic=115035 http://www.parool.nl/parool/nl/224/BINNENL...aakverbod.dhtml

A national squatters' protest in Utrecht took place without violence on Saturday. The police arrested one person for public drunkenness. Thousands of protesters took part in the demonstration. The parade made its way through the middle of the busy inner city. The many people shouting and dancing surprised shoppers. They carried banners, waved flags and chanted "kraken gaat door". Families with children were also in the group. The squatters distributed "krakelingen" (a type of biscuit) and "gekraakte" nuts (The Dutch word for squatting is "kraken")]]> Sun, 25 Oct 2009 09:28:31 +0100 http://forum.expatica.com/index.php?showtopic=115035 http://forum.expatica.com/index.php?showtopic=115305 http://www.ad.nl/ad/nl/1039/Utrecht/articl...cht-stopt.dhtml

Priests will no longer be trained in the diocese of Utrecht. The primary reason is the strong decline in the number of students. In 1994-1995 there were still 40, but in 2009-2010 there are only 12. The diocese announced this on Tuesday. Because of the low numbers, it is no longer financially viable for the diocese to have its own seminary. Candidates for the priestood will have to take their training at De Tiltenberg, the seminary of the diocese of Haarlem-Amsterdam.]]> Wed, 04 Nov 2009 08:48:54 +0100 http://forum.expatica.com/index.php?showtopic=115305 http://forum.expatica.com/index.php?showtopic=115328 Dutch take swine flu threat more seriously

Resistance towards swine flu vaccines seems to have decreased as more children are infected with the A(H1N1) virus.

The Netherlands – The Dutch are now taking the threat posed by the swine flu more seriously, said Roel Coutinho of the National Institute of Public Health (RIVM).

According to the Dutch Family Doctors Society, 95 percent of people with flu symptoms are found to be infected with the A(H1N1) virus.

As the number of young children being infected with the virus increases, Professor Coutinho said there is a shift in public opinion.

Before, people questioned the need for vaccinations. But now, people ask why the vaccines were not available earlier, said Coutinho who hoped that more people will be now prepared to receive vaccination.

Resistance of the nurses towards the vaccination remained high as seen on a website for nurses, nursing.nl where the healthcare workers discuss about the pros and cons of being vaccinated.

On Tuesday, family doctors received the first flu vaccine batches. They will inoculate people from risk groups next week.

Meanwhile, the Dutch Family Doctors Society said the flu has started spreading on a large-scale in the Netherlands.

Last week, the RIVM announced that another four people have died of A(H1N1) virus, bringing the death toll to 10. The victims were a girl aged 4, a boy aged 6, a 25-year-old man and a woman of 56. Three of them had underlying health problems.

More than 5,700 people have died of swine flu worldwide since A(H1N1) was first uncovered in April, with most of the deaths recorded in the Americas, according to the World Health Organisation.
http://www.expatica.com/nl/news/community_...-seriously.html
--
Well, I felt like I already had it...]]> Wed, 04 Nov 2009 23:33:33 +0100 http://forum.expatica.com/index.php?showtopic=115328 http://forum.expatica.com/index.php?showtopic=115143 http://www.nu.nl/economie/2111575/vrouwen-...e-werkweek.html

http://www.scp.nl/Publicaties/Alle_publica..._g_een_probleem

Seventy per cent of Dutch women work. This is one of the highest levels of women participating in the workforce in Europe. Many of these women work in "small part-time jobs". However, women working part time who want to work longer hours are more often not succeeding in doing so. One out of five women who work less than 25 hours a week want to work longer, but less than half of them are able to make it happen. This is according to a publication by the "Social and Cultural Planning Office". The report's conclusion: it is possible for these women to start working longer hours, but it is not going to happen without effort. The report looked at the role of employers and getting husbands to work less or in different patterns.]]> Thu, 29 Oct 2009 08:43:34 +0100 http://forum.expatica.com/index.php?showtopic=115143 http://forum.expatica.com/index.php?showtopic=115335 http://www.telegraaf.nl/binnenland/5246827...ep__.html?p=4,2

On Wednesday letters containing an unknown substance (called a 'poederbrief'' in Dutch) were received by eight out of 13 police stations in Zeeland. Analysis of the powder has revealed that the letters did not contain a dangerous substance. Neither the police nor the laboratory can say what substance it is exactly. They don't know who sent them or why. They caused a good deal of concern at the police stations. Two of them closed down after the letters were opened.]]> Thu, 05 Nov 2009 07:40:16 +0100 http://forum.expatica.com/index.php?showtopic=115335 http://forum.expatica.com/index.php?showtopic=115318 Affirmative action in the United States

http://www.rnw.nl/english/article/amsterda...ulture%E2%80%9D

immigrant background on the boards of directors of any of the capital city’s private or public organisations. Members of the establishment simply pass on the top jobs to old university friends, and non-Dutch people are excluded.

This is the conclusion of Amsterdam’s Advisory Council for Diversity and Integration. The council based its conclusion on a survey that included bodies ranging from housing corporations, hospitals and social services to cultural organisations and higher education institutions. And in local government, the picture is no different.

White
Chair of the Advisory Council, Ankie Verlaan, told Radio Netherlands Worldwide, “If you look at the make-up of the population, the executives don’t reflect the population.”

The 66 directors and board members of Amsterdam housing corporations include not a single immigrant. In social services organisations, not one of the 46 directors has a non-Dutch background. A similar picture emerges in higher education, where there are only four immigrants out of 70 board members, and in the cultural sector the proportion is just two out of 48.

Ankie Verlaan says there is a “dominant white culture” within organisations which is hard to break through. She says that although boards of directors and supervisory boards are not deliberately excluding people from ethnic minority backgrounds, the problem is they simply don’t know people from these communities. And people in top jobs tend to pass on positions to people in their own circle of friends and acquaintances.

Immigrants
By “white”, the council is referring to native Dutch people, as opposed to non-Western immigrants. They come from countries ranging from Turkey and Morocco to Surinam and the Dutch Antilles. Smaller non-Western immigrant groups in the Netherlands are from countries including Indonesia, China, Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan. Around 40 percent of immigrants in the country are from other European countries.

In the country as a whole, the total number of both Western and non-Western immigrants combined make up around 16 percent of the population. However, in Amsterdam, just over half the population are not native Dutch.

Dutch phenomenon
The Advisory Council says Amsterdam has been promising for years to improve the balance of the ethnic make-up in its ruling bodies to reflect the city’s population, but virtually nothing has changed.

What’s more, Ankie Verlaan stresses that this is by no means just an Amsterdam problem, but occurs nationwide.

“It’s a typical Dutch phenomenon. You go to university, you join a typical student fraternity with a white culture, and that’s where you know everybody, and all your life they remain your circle of friends, and that’s what you draw on.”]]> Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:06:46 +0100 http://forum.expatica.com/index.php?showtopic=115318 http://forum.expatica.com/index.php?showtopic=115234 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theo_van_Gogh_(film_director)]]> Mon, 02 Nov 2009 00:07:24 +0100 http://forum.expatica.com/index.php?showtopic=115234 http://forum.expatica.com/index.php?showtopic=115306 http://www.nu.nl/binnenland/2115631/tweede...ekt-in-oss.html

In the area of the site of the largest burial mound in the Netherlands, archaeologists have found another large and rich royal grave. This is in Oss (between Den Bosch and Nijmegen). Along with several burial mounds in the area of the Paalgraven motorway interchange on the A50 and the A59, they made up a unique and vast ritual landscape in use a few centuries B.C. The famous royal grave in Oss was excavated in 1933. The recently discovered new grave from the early Iron Age is just a couple of hundred metres away and is not that much smaller.


]]> Wed, 04 Nov 2009 08:59:46 +0100 http://forum.expatica.com/index.php?showtopic=115306 http://forum.expatica.com/index.php?showtopic=115304 http://www.ad.nl/ad/nl/1012/Binnenland/art...lla-prins.dhtml

http://www.ad.nl/ad/nl/1012/Binnenland/art...ozambique.dhtml

The Tweede Kamer will shortly hold another debate about a Mozambique vacation home of the crown prince, Willem-Alexander. The reason is the article last week in the NRC Handelsblad about the foundation that was set up especially to look after the prince's interests in the property development. According to the report, the president of the board of this foundation (called Administratiekantoor Machangulo) is apparently himself also an investor in the project.

The debate has been called by Alexander Pechtold (leader of the D66 party). The date for the debate has not been set. Before the debate the prime minster (Jan Peter Balkenende) will have to release to parliament written responses to all the questions asked by parliament. (The prime minister speaks for the royals in parliament.) Last weekend Pechtold openly called for the prince to stop construction on the vacation home on the island of Machangulo.

According to sources close to the royal family, the queen was against the project from the beginning.]]> Wed, 04 Nov 2009 08:36:43 +0100 http://forum.expatica.com/index.php?showtopic=115304 http://forum.expatica.com/index.php?showtopic=115231 http://www.parool.nl/parool/nl/4/AMSTERDAM...s-mislukt.dhtml

Free speech is not protected in the Netherlands. The murder of Theo van Gogh, which took place five years ago Monday, shows that the legal system is bankrupt. This is the view of Ayaan Hirsi Ali, given today in an interview with Het Parool. "He should have been forced to accept protection."

She thinks the debate over Islam in the Netherlands is seriously off the rails because of the ongoing threats being made by Muslims.

(Hirsi Ali is a Somali who came as an asylum seeker to the Netherlands as a young woman. She ended up becoming a member of the VVD (a right-wing party), announced her apostasy, and adopted a platform that was strongly anti-Islam.)

She made a contraversial movie called "Submission" with Theo van Gogh over Islam's treatment of women. Theo van Gogh was later killed by a Moslem radical because of it. In a letter that was stabbed to Van Gogh's body, the killer blamed Hirsi Ali.

(Later, Hirsi Ali was the subject of a political & media circus involving Rita Verdonk, the minister of immigration and integration at the time. Because Verdonk had made statements of principle about asylum seekers. she felt forced to take action against Hirsi Ali, her own colleague, because Ali had admitted to having lied on her asylum claim.)

Ali fled to the US. Once there, the Dutch government refused to continue to pay for her security, so she ended up accepting money from right-wing American groups. She sued the Dutch government, but withdrew when the legal fees became too expensive.

She told Parool: "This is an effective way to shut someone up. The danger is not me, but radical muslims."

In the interview Hirsi Ali lashes out at government members of the time, multiculturalism supporters in parliament, and the middle of the road parties that, according to her, are still covering up integration problems.

(If you're new here: it may seem strange that a Somali woman is attacking multiculturalism, but what she means is that she supports integration of Muslim immigrants.)

Other current and former participants in the debate over Islam also give various differing opinions in the article about whether a debate can be held when security is needed for the debaters.

Jurist Paul Cliteur says that the limits of the debate are being set by terrorist threats, not the Constitution.

Apostate Muslim Ehsan Jami, who wants to sit in parliament for the PVV, receives threats every day and requires security.

Political commentator Paul Scheffer does not feel strongly threatened by the Muslim community, but he does say, "The fact that people require protection is intolerable".]]> Sun, 01 Nov 2009 23:39:04 +0100 http://forum.expatica.com/index.php?showtopic=115231 http://forum.expatica.com/index.php?showtopic=115243 http://www.nu.nl/algemeen/2114025/je-ding-...alergernis.html

They had a poll recently on the most annoying Dutch phrases. Here are a few of them:

- je ding doen (the 2009 winner - 15% of the 1,900 participants picked this one)
- een stukje
- proactief
- zeg maar
- doorcommuniceren

Phrase from last year:

- een plekje geven

The results are at vaagtaal.nl. Apparently men and women are annoyed by different phrases. Women dislike `lichaamstaal' (meaning body language) and 'oké' when it doesn't mean anything.
]]> Mon, 02 Nov 2009 09:18:15 +0100 http://forum.expatica.com/index.php?showtopic=115243