From DutchNews.nl

  • Inburgering with DN: the Dutch are revolting

    Lots of people seem to think rioting is something very un-Dutch. But nothing could be further from the truth. Put your helmets on for a choice selection of street battles through the ages in the latest inburgering lesson Lesson 50: Dutch riots Hatchet riots The Bijltjesoproer, or riot of the small hatchets, of 1787 was a result of political strife between supporters of the House of Orange and the Patriotten (patriots) who wanted democratic reform. The Amsterdam regents were on

  • International Amsterdammers can vote on green spaces plan

    None-EU nationals may be excluded from the June 6 EU parliamentary election, but everyone who has lived officially in Amsterdam for at least five years will be able to vote in an advisory referendum about the city’s green spaces. The council policy document on the city’s “hoofdgroenstructuur” runs to 90 pages and outlines which different types of green spaces there are in the Dutch capital and what should be protected, thereby ruling out residential or other development. The city’s current...

  • A dummy’s guide to the Dutch coalition government

    In case you haven’t done your citizenship exams, don’t speak B1 level Dutch and haven’t been in the country for 10 years (all pertinent this week) Dutch News would like to introduce you to the key points, players and problems. On Thursday morning, four parties announced that they have agreed to form a new right-wing, coalition government. For the first time, this contains controversial politician Geert Wilders, whose Partij voor de Vrijheid (PVV) – Party for Freedom – is the

  • Joost Klein faces "criminal intimidation" charge: Swedish media

    Joost Klein, the Dutch entrant for this month’s Eurovision Song Contest, denies all the charges which led to him being thrown out of the competition, his lawyer Jan-Åke Fält has told Swedish media. Klein, whose song Europapa was one of the competition favourites, was disqualified on Saturday after an incident at Thursday’s rehearsal between him and a camerawoman. He now faces being charged with “criminal intimidation”, according to Swedish media. Swedish police said earlier that they were...

  • Fewer beds for refugees as councils act on pledge to scrap rules

    The number of beds available for asylum seekers in the Netherlands may have fallen by 1,500 in the two days since the next Dutch government pledged to overturn legislation requiring all local councils to provide accommodation for their fair share of people. Erik van der Burg, the junior minister who drove through the legislation, told reporters on Friday that the expected decline is a direct response to the plan by the right-wing government in waiting to withdraw the law. While

  • Podcast: The False Frikandel Edition

    Want to support the DutchNews podcast and keep up our stocks of stroopwafels and orange tompouces? Click here to become a Patreon backer It was a week when a small European country finally got tough on foreigners who stir up trouble and harass its citizens. But most of the Netherlands was horrified by the expulsion of Joost Klein from the Eurovision Song Contest and rang out church bells in solidarity. Meanwhile in The Hague, a coalition of right-wing parties finally

  • Dutch cartel body to further probe RTL takeover by Belgian group

    Dutch consumers authority ACM has said it wants more time to assess the possible takeover of RTL Nederland by Belgian media group DPG. The watchdog said on Friday it is concerned that the €1.1 billion takeover would make DPG too dominant. Last year the ACM blocked a merger between RTL Nederland and Talpa, saying the combine would have too powerful a position on the commercial media landscape. “Based on its investigation so far, the ACM foresees possible adverse effects of

  • Coalition partners "have no common vision": what the papers say

    Bien etonnés de se trouver ensemble, a marriage of convenience however the new coalition is described, the Dutch papers detect little love and much future strife among the partners. The new coalition marks a turning point in Dutch political history, but, apart from the asylum plans, much remains the same. Nevertheless, the finances will leave much to bicker over, the Financieele Dagblad commented. A close read of the agreement shows that many of the policies started by Mark Rutte’s fourth

  • A new Dutch coalition: but when do we get a government?

    Insiders expect it will be several weeks at least before the next Dutch government poses with king Willem-Alexander on the steps of one of his palaces. So what happens next? Richard van Zwol, one of the two men who led the successful negotiations, will now take over the job of allocating ministeries to the four parties and finding suitable ministers. This job is usually done by the next prime minister, but given the new partners do not yet have one,

  • Court lifts restrictions on Fabel Friet's TikTok queue

    Amsterdam TikTok hit Fabel Friet, where large groups of tourists wait to pick up French fries with exotic toppings, does not yet have to cut its queues, a court in the Dutch capital has decided. The city council wanted to restrict the number of people waiting to pick up their orders to 10 in a new operating licence, but court ruled that would be unworkable and has suspended the new licence pending a full court case. In addition, given the

  • Fewer Dutch are religious, Protestants are biggest churchgoers

    Last year, 42% of the Dutch considered themselves to be members of a religious community, down from 53% 10 years ago, national statistics agency CBS said on Friday. The decline is largely under Catholics. In 2013, 26% of the population said they were Catholic, but that has now fallen to 17%. The number of people who are members of one of the variety of Protestant churches in the Netherlands fell from 16% to 13% over the same period. The number

  • Dutch minister to call on EU to look again at treaty with Israel

    The Netherlands plans to talk to other EU member states about taking “steps” against Israel because of the war in Gaza. Foreign affairs minister Hanke Bruins Slot told MPs on Thursday that she wanted to look again at the treaty of association between the EU and Israel and send an “import signal” to the country. “It would be a major step,” the minister said. The treaty of association was established in 2000 and sets out agreements to strengthen economic and