The Dutch economy is performing so poorly that next year’s budget deficit is forecasted to exceed the 3% ceiling set by the European Stability and Growth Pact.
This is particularly embarrassing news for Finance Minister Gerrit Zalm, who recently called for Germany and France to be heavily fined for exceeding the euro-zone’s 3% budget deficit rule. With the Dutch economy struggling during this Christmas holiday season and the government cutting assistance to the poor, the ‘Minister Begs For The Poor’ headline in the Algemeen Dagblad newspaper was a jab at Dutch Minister of Social Affairs Aart-Jan de Geus’s recent appeal to the country’s wealthy citizens to donate generously to charity. A special telephone line and ‘Robin Hood’ bank account is being set up for the rich to pledge their donations. This week, Minister De Geus also found time to rage against social security cheats: ”The social system is being financially and socially eroded. Beating the system has become a national sport!” Only one member of Parliament objected to the Minister’s comments. A Socialist Party representative charged the Minister with ”casting aspersions against people on welfare”. In a related story, a regional fraud squad investigation in Groningen found that hundreds of people on social benefits own more than one car, despite the fact that regulations state that a person on benefits may own only one vehicle, with a current insurance value of no more than 2,300 euros. Of the 9,400 Groningers on welfare, 1,851 own one car, and 847 two or more. In these economically lean times, the government sees law-breakers as an important source of revenue. A Volkskrant headline, ‘Fines For Public Nuisances Up By 10 Percent’, reflects Justice Minister Piet Hein Donner%s intention to crack down even harder on everybody who breaks a law, from jaywalkers and speeding motorist to beggars. Minister Donner wants to fine beggars 50 euros for begging. ,,I want to create a more liveable, law-abiding society’, he said. Meanwhile, a recent Salvation Army sponsored survey found that Dutch people now have less compassion for homeless people, the handicapped, drug-addicts, criminals and poor people. 69% felt that everyone who wants and needs help should get it, compared to 74% in 2002. Justice Minister Donner is also proposing new legislation requiring Dutch citizens to show identification on request, rather than obliging them to merely carry identification. Citizens who refuse to show police a passport, driver’s licence or other valid document will be arrested. In these hard-line times, Rotterdam city council has announced that it will no longer allow poor and unemployed people to take up residence in the city. The plan includes setting a minimum income requirement for residents. The three national governing coalition parties have responded positively to the proposal. And even one of Amsterdam’s best known coffee shops, Smokey, is going hard-line; but it says that only foreign visitors are welcome inside, because tourists spend more money, while native Dutch customers merely sit smoking their joints without ordering food or drinks. A shocking Trouw article and headline, ‘Netherlands Has Highest Infant Mortality’, details a recent European Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology report that found 7.4 out of every 1,000 Dutch babies are stillborn, the highest rate in the EU. In Germany that figure is 3.5 in every 1,000 and in Sweden 3.9. Dutch babies also have the highest risk of dying in the first month of life. Amsterdam has the third worst record for child mortality among European capitals. But no such tragedy for the Dutch Royal family: Crown Prince Willem-Alexander and Princess Máxima named their new-born baby daughter Catharina-Amalia Beatrix Carmen Victoria. The baby’s birth was celebrated throughout the Netherlands, especially by the residents of the country%s old-age homes. And finally, a recent Interpolis insurance company report calculated that in Dutch households, pets cause some 22 million euros worth of damage every year. One in every ten damage claims involve an animal. Dogs are the worst offenders, accounting for 75% of all animal vandalism. Dog-caused damage averages 500 euros worth of damage per claim.
The Dutch economy is performing so poorly that next year’s budget deficit is forecasted to exceed the 3% ceiling set by the European Stability and Growth Pact. This is particularly embarrassing news for Finance Minister Gerrit Zalm, who recently called for Germany and France to be heavily fined for exceeding the euro-zone’s 3% budget deficit rule. With the Dutch economy struggling during this Christmas holiday season and the government cutting assistance to the poor, the ‘Minister Begs For The Poor’ headline in the Algemeen Dagblad newspaper was a jab at Dutch Minister of Social Affairs Aart-Jan de Geus’s recent appeal to the country’s wealthy citizens to donate generously to charity. A special telephone line and ‘Robin Hood’ bank account is being set up for the rich to pledge their donations. This week, Minister De Geus also found time to rage against social security cheats: ”The social system is being financially and socially eroded. Beating the system has become a national sport!” Only one member of Parliament objected to the Minister’s comments. A Socialist Party representative charged the Minister with ”casting aspersions against people on welfare”. In a related story, a regional fraud squad investigation in Groningen found that hundreds of people on social benefits own more than one car, despite the fact that regulations state that a person on benefits may own only one vehicle, with a current insurance value of no more than 2,300 euros. Of the 9,400 Groningers on welfare, 1,851 own one car, and 847 two or more. In these economically lean times, the government sees law-breakers as an important source of revenue. A Volkskrant headline, ‘Fines For Public Nuisances Up By 10 Percent’, reflects Justice Minister Piet Hein Donner%s intention to crack down even harder on everybody who breaks a law, from jaywalkers and speeding motorist to beggars. Minister Donner wants to fine beggars 50 euros for begging. ,,I want to create a more liveable, law-abiding society’, he said. Meanwhile, a recent Salvation Army sponsored survey found that Dutch people now have less compassion for homeless people, the handicapped, drug-addicts, criminals and poor people. 69% felt that everyone who wants and needs help should get it, compared to 74% in 2002. Justice Minister Donner is also proposing new legislation requiring Dutch citizens to show identification on request, rather than obliging them to merely carry identification. Citizens who refuse to show police a passport, driver’s licence or other valid document will be arrested. In these hard-line times, Rotterdam city council has announced that it will no longer allow poor and unemployed people to take up residence in the city. The plan includes setting a minimum income requirement for residents. The three national governing coalition parties have responded positively to the proposal. And even one of Amsterdam’s best known coffee shops, Smokey, is going hard-line; but it says that only foreign visitors are welcome inside, because tourists spend more money, while native Dutch customers merely sit smoking their joints without ordering food or drinks. A shocking Trouw article and headline, ‘Netherlands Has Highest Infant Mortality’, details a recent European Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology report that found 7.4 out of every 1,000 Dutch babies are stillborn, the highest rate in the EU. In Germany that figure is 3.5 in every 1,000 and in Sweden 3.9. Dutch babies also have the highest risk of dying in the first month of life. Amsterdam has the third worst record for child mortality among European capitals. But no such tragedy for the Dutch Royal family: Crown Prince Willem-Alexander and Princess Máxima named their new-born baby daughter Catharina-Amalia Beatrix Carmen Victoria. The baby’s birth was celebrated throughout the Netherlands, especially by the residents of the country%s old-age homes. And finally, a recent Interpolis insurance company report calculated that in Dutch households, pets cause some 22 million euros worth of damage every year. One in every ten damage claims involve an animal. Dogs are the worst offenders, accounting for 75% of all animal vandalism. Dog-caused damage averages 500 euros worth of damage per claim.
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