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| Prince Friso''s funeral takes place |
8/18/2013 |
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The funeral of prince Friso, who died on Monday after spending 18 months in a coma, took place in the leafy Dutch village of Lage Vuursche on Friday afternoon. Shortly before the service began, the royal family left nearby Drakensteyn castle and walked in a large group to the church. The procession was led by Friso''s mother princess Beatrix and his wife Mabel, who held hands with his children Luana and Zaria. The two girls, plus the three daughters of king Willem-Alexander, were dressed in white. Security The funeral was closed to the press and public, and around 70 guests attended. Prime minister Mark Rutte was not among the mourners. Norwegian king Harald, who was Friso''s godfather, did attend. The streets around the Stulpkerk where the service began at 15.00 were quiet, and fewer people had turned out to watch than expected, Nos television said. The main street in Lage Vuursche had been closed to traffic. In a break with tradition, the prince was buried in the churchyard of the Stulpkerk rather than placed in the family crypt in Delft''s Oude Kerk. The Lage Vuursche church adjoins the Drakensteyn castle estate, where Friso grew up and where former queen Beatrix plans to return now she has retired. Commentators say Beatrix wants to keep her favourite son close to her. According to Nos television, Beatrix once donated land to the church so the graveyard could be extended.
Dutch minister warns about free movement of people
The European Union needs to make new rules to combat excesses in the free movement of people, Dutch social affairs minister Lodewijk Asscher says in an article in Saturday''s Volkskrant.
The resettlement of so many people from eastern Europe in the west has had a ''disruptive effect on poor and less well educated people in richer EU countries like the Netherlands and Britain,'' the article, written together with British commentator David Goodhart, states.
Their work and income is being threatened by new arrivals who are used to much lower wages and are not familiar with the welfare state, the Volkskrant article says.
Code Amber
The article sounds a ''code amber'' alert for the European labour market. ''Our weakest citizens are in a jobs face-off with more able people from elsewhere,'' the article states.
''We have to think about how we can protect the position of this vulnerable group without hurting the principles of non-discrimination''. Some 12% of agricultural workers in the Netherlands and 7% of those in business services come from central and eastern Europe, the article states.
Moaning about foreigners is a ''recognisable reflex'' but the issue needs to be looked at seriously, the article states. ''Otherwise they will poison the atmosphere and stir up hatred of foreigners.''
Joint issue
Asscher and Goodhart say Brussels has failed to take the negative aspects of the free movement of people seriously and need to put them ''high on the agenda''.
''If we want to continue to profit from the benefits brought by the free movement of people, then we have to be prepared to counteract the negative effects - from displacement to exploitation. That is in the interests of all EU citizens,'' the article concludes.
Dutch anti-immigration politician Geert Wilders used the microblogging service Twitter to call on Asscher to refuse free entry to people from Romania and Bulgaria. At the moment they need a special permit to work in the Netherlands.
''Asscher should not open the borders to Romanians and Bulgarians in January 2014 but keep them shut, otherwise he is crying crocodile tears,'' the PVV party leader said.
Young teachers find it hard to get jobs, 3,000 apply for benefits
Spending cuts, declining pupil numbers and changes in retirement patterns mean thousands of young teachers cannot find a job, the Volkskrant reports on Friday. Some 3,300 teachers and other school staff have applied for unemployment benefits over the summer, an ''explosive'' increase and up 30% on a year ago, the Volkskrant says. Half the new claims come from primary school teachers and two thirds are under the age of 30. The situation is partly due to the fact young teachers are more likely to be given temporary contracts which don''t cover the summer months, Rob Witjes, head of labour market information at the UWV job centres, told the paper. Some 5,000 students qualify as teachers through pabo teacher training colleges every year.
Asian tiger mosquito found in seven Dutch locations, clean-up underway
The Asian tiger mosquito has been identified at seven locations in the Netherlands and efforts are underway to eradicate it, government safety experts said on Wednesday. The mosquito, which can carry dangerous diseases such as yellow fever, has been identified at used tyre import companies in Oss, Weert, Montfort, Almere, Lelystad, Emmeloord and Harderberg, the NVWA inspectorate said in a statement. The European centre for infectious diseases said earlier this year the tiger mosquito, an aggressive, day-time biting mosquito which can transmit some 20 viruses and parasites, had made its home in the Netherlands, but that was denied at the time by local officials. Imports The tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus) is a native of south east Asia and is thought to spread via bamboo plant imports and on car tyres. Dengue fever, yellow fever and encephalitis are among the diseases it spreads. However, none of the mosquitos found in the Netherlands have been carrying disease, the NVWA said.‘Preventative measures’ are now being taken to make sure the mosquito does not become established in the Netherlands, the organisation said. Locals living close to the affected areas are being informed and the clean-up process will take several months. The organisation said the ‘substance’ used to kill the insects wipes out both adults and larvae but does not give further details.
House sales rise 30% in July
The number of house sales recorded at the land registry office rose 30% in July, compared with a year ago. Compared with June, transactions are also up 33%, the land registry office (kadaster) and national statistics office CBS said on Friday. In total, 9,659 houses changed hands in July, which is a traditionally good month for house sales. However, there were strong regional variations. The increase was greatest in Gelderland, where sales rose 52%. In Limburg, by contrast, the rise was just 7%. Plunge In the year to July, house sales are still lagging 2012 by 17%, Pieter Hein van Mulligen of the CBS told the Financieele Dagblad. ''The remaining months of the year will not make that up, so 2013 will still be worse than 2012,'' Van Mulligen said. July''s rise may also be a knock-on effect from the uncertainty in the first half of the year, as people finally took the plunge.
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