DutchNews Podcast

Pressure mounts on the Dutch cabinet to denounce Israel's destruction of Gaza, with the mayor of Amsterdam, universities and even PVV voters growing increasingly critical. Scientists warn that Donald Trump's cuts to academic research are hampering their ability to work with American colleagues. The Netherlands could face water shortages as climate change and economic pressures take their toll. No...

Foreign minister Casper Veldkamp finally draws a red line over Israel's intervention in Gaza, but will it be the fault line that ruptures the coalition? The conflict is also the focus of protests at ceremonies to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War. But at least one of the coalition parties has something to celebrate, as MEPs vote to downgrade the protected status of the w...

As the economy cools, the cabinet burns through its green energy fund to bail out fossil fuel users and torch its climate change targets. The debate on who should be included in the May 4 commemorations flares up again as an alternative ceremony to include the victims of Gaza is condemned by some politicians. Geert Wilders claims victory as his asylum minister's policies apparently drive down refu...

The passing of Pope Francis managed to put the king's birthday birthday celebrations and Pieter Omtzigt's dramatic departure from politics in the shade this week. The coalition leaders emerged from a marathon negotiation session with a spring budget deal designed to please everyone except the taxpayers. Intelligence services accuse Iran of planning a botched assassination, Russia of sabotaging Eur...

An Easter egg scramble begins in The Hague as ministers try to grab a morsel of the €8 billion available in his spring budget statement. The Binnenhof's history as a medieval palace turns out to be even longer and richer than we suspected. Academics at Dutch universities face extra screening to prevent them stealing scientific knowledge, while students are warned about a rise in rent scams. Dutch...

Once again Marjolein Faber confounds critics and partners alike with her bottomless talent for turning a storm in a teacup into a political maelstrom. Dick Schoof insists his cabinet is united behind his decision to clean up the mess caused by Faber's refusal to honour five volunteers for working with refugees. Elsewhere, a majority of MPs back a ban on street fireworks while prisons minister Ingr...

This week it was the turn of the immigration service and the justice inspectorate to take Marjolein Faber to task over her unravelling immigration plans. Amsterdam is shocked as five people are stabbed in an apparently random attack near Dam Square. Travellers to the United States are warned about Donald Trump's backward shift on LBGT rights. PSV have to quarantine their new Spanish striker after...

Dick Schoof heads to Brussels for a defence spending summit with orders to pull the emergency brake on the Eurobonds train. Back in The Hague, the PVV holds its own prisons minister hostage over her plans to solve the overcrowding problem in jails. And the education minister wants to attract foreign talent to universities that are cutting down on international students and English-language classes...

The latest crisis to engulf Dick Schoof's cabinet sees three coalition parties vote against the prime minister on Europe's rearmament plan to support Ukraine. GroenLinks-PvdA speed up plans for a merger, almost as if they expect an early election. JA21 MP Joost Eerdmans, a PVV councillor and Groningen's former mayor all get into difficulty in their cars. The government wants to tighten up regulati...

There's no such thing as an unqualified success in Dick Schoof's coalition of the unwilling. The prime minister steers a €3.5bn aid package to Ukraine through parliament, but faces accusations of a stitch-up from Geert Wilders. Marjolein Faber's asylum plans are finally signed off in cabinet but are likely to meet stiff resistance in the Senate. Police investigate whether a devastating fire that d...

An €8 billion windfall turns out to be a poisoned chalice for the cabinet as the coalition parties start scrambling for a piece of the pie. The four parties can't agree on how to mark the third anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which is also the subject of Marjolein Faber's latest faux pas. More freelancers are going out of business and more couples are working part-time as changes t...

The mission to realise the "strictest asylum policy ever" takes another twist as housing minister Mona Keijzer bans local councils from giving refugees priority housing while Marjolein Faber gives them a €30,000 incentive to do exactly that. Women's rights, higher education and Unicef are no longer relevant to the Dutch national interest, Reinette Klever declares as she slashes development aid fun...

The BBB is the latest coalition party to be plunged into crisis as an MP quits and the local party in its Overijssel heartland splits over "irreconcilable differences". The three face mask millionaires are told to pay back their ill-gotten gains in a judgment that is scathing of the health ministry's carefree attitude to spending public money. Brussels condemns the Dutch government's failure to ta...

As Karl Marx once observed, history repeats itself: the first time as tragedy, the second as farce, the third as Marjolein Faber's asylum policy. The cabinet is on the brink of collapse for the umpteenth time as Geert Wilders blames NSC for his favourite minister's failure to cut any ice with the Council of State. Gelderland province also hits a legal wall in its efforts to fire paintball pellets...

Another week, another round of infighting and backtracking in the coalition, this time over an eye-watering 0.4% increase in the rate of VAT. The Drents Museum is the reluctant star of an international heist drama stretching from Bucharest to Heerhugowaard. Calls for a fireworks ban grow louder following another rise in injuries and attacks on emergency service workers at New Year. Feyenoord fans...

A hazy cloud hangs over the cabinet after it loses another court case against its nitrogen reduction policy. Marjolein Faber's latest wheeze to send asylum seekers home is a one-way trip to Damascus, with compensation for going via Brussels. Shoplifters are getting away with theft and it's down to privacy laws, says a debt collection firm that was implicated in dodgy dealings with the police. More...

Some people call it the most depressing day of the year: to others it's known as the return of parliament. Geert Wilders' coalition crisis roulette wheel lands on the spring budget cuts as he yet again vows not to budge an inch. The lawyer for drugs baron Ridouan Taghi is accused of abusing her privilege to run messages for her client in a case that has rocked the legal profession. Venezuela banis...

In keeping with tradition, 2025 kicked off with an explosive row about whether to ban fireworks. Pharmacists go on strike for more pay while they warn about a shortage of supplies. The wartime archives of suspected Nazi collaborators are opened up and immediately stir up a hornet's nest. Blades are sharpened in the world of figure skating as the leading Dutch pair are taken to court for not spendi...

It's time once again for our annual round-up of the minor incidents that got everybody hot under the collar for five minutes on social media at some point this year. And what a bumper harvest it's been. Caroline van der Plas performed a hardboiled cunning stunt in front of Geert Wilders, a man called Willie fell foul of the regulations on phallic garden ornaments and Nicky Minaj was jailed for try...

Asylum minister Marjolein Faber produces her rapid-response emergency plan to deal with the urgent refugee crisis, a mere six months after taking office. Police believe the explosion in The Hague that cost the lives of six people may have been the work of an enraged ex-boyfriend. Farmers' party minister Jean Rummenie outlines his strategy on problem wolves and how to deal with them. An auction hou...

The Hague was in shock this week after six people died in a huge blast that police believe was an attack on a bridal wear shop. A "monster alliance" wrings concessions from the coalition parties on the education budget, but universities say the cuts will still damage the sector. Enhanced border checks come into force but experts say they will make little difference, while the Council of State pour...

The government is running out of time to make its education budget add up as opposition parties form a "monster alliance" against its spending cuts. Sandra Palmen, who blew open the childcare benefits scandal, is put in charge of compensating the thousands of victims. Two Dutch members of a gang who smuggled cocaine in crates of onions are given eye-watering jail sentences in the UK. Drivers are w...

You don't need a degree in rocket science to work out that the government's higher education cuts are in deep trouble after opposition parties form a united front in the Senate against the €2 billion package. More budget headaches in Brussels as the EU raps the Netherlands over the knuckles for busting the deficit limit that it was instrumental in setting up. Integration lessons for refugees are s...

NSC leader Pieter Omtzigt returns to The Hague to survey the tattered remains of his Nieuw Sociaal Contract party. Two MPs follow junior finance minister Nora Achahbar through the exit, complaining of a lack of basic decency in government. Another NSC minister, Caspar Veldkamp, had an awkward day in parliament as he explained the consequences of the ICC's arrest warrant against Israeli prime minis...

Amsterdam has been hardly out of the headlines this week, after trouble before, during and after a football match between Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv, with politicians at home and abroad pouring oil on troubled waters. Oil giant Shell, meanwhile, won the return match in its ongoing legal battle with environmental campaign group Milieudefensie. Health insurers publish their premiums for next year wit...