DutchNews Podcast

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 produced a programme for government, promising stringent new rule...

As the coalition talks stall, Geert Wilders delivers on his promise to put the Dutch first by slinking off to Budapest to give a speech in English about African migrants. Security is stepped up for the Remembrance Day ceremony, with numbers limited for the first time, amid fears it could be disrupted by protesters. Mark Rutte books a cheap flight to Turkey to collect one of the last stamps he need...

The coalition talks are in limbo as Geert Wilders turns up the Timmermans Threat level to 11 and the parties try to turn an refugee drama into a crisis. Global warming isn't putting off Dutch holidaymakers, but the cost of travel is making their eyes water. Measles cases are on the rise as the vaccination rate falls. Feyenoord's manager looks set to jump ship while Alex Kroes and the Ajax board lo...

In the week that Hugo de Jonge revealed that the Binnenhof renovation will cost €2bn and last until 2028, we ask if there is any chance of a government being in place by then. The king thanks his Spanish counterpart for putting up Princess Amalia in Madrid after she was threatened by gangsters, while Prinsjesdag is set for a populist makeover. In a bad week for pensioners, six people in their 70s...

Crisis club Ajax plumb new depths of hubris as their ramshackle defending on the pitch is eclipsed by a flurry of own goals in the boardroom. Down the road in The Hague, the manure hits the fan in the coalition talks as the negotiators try to put together the puzzle pieces. A group of pensioners go on trial accused of forming a criminal organisation to distribute suicide powders. Cyclists now acco...

Groningen is up in arms over the senate's decision to pause the great gas switch-off, in a week when several government plans perish in the upper house. Czech claims that Russia has infiltrated the Dutch parliament leave MPs with an intriguing missed Thierry to solve. Ajax's new chief executive scores a devastating own goal as the club's season of misery continues. The government's efforts to remo...

After agreeing on a form of government that keeps Pieter Omtzigt on board and Geert Wilders muzzled, the four right-wing parties finally get down to business. Two new negotiators are given the task of producing a programme for government within eight weeks, but the only thing the leaders agree on is that the discussions will be "tough". The PVV scuppers a bill on animal welfare, sweeping changes a...

A breakthrough of sorts in the coalition talks as the four parties agree to form a "programme cabinet", which sounds like a piece of charity shop furniture. Protests against the visit of Israel's president sparks cast a shadow over the long-awaited opening of Amsterdam's Holocaust Museum. The SGP starts a crusade after learning that the government has ordered four new submarines to be built in Fra...

More than 100 days after the election, there are cautious signs that the four parties who have been bickering since December might be ready to start talking about forming a government. Meanwhile, the outgoing government is battling to keep international employers like ASML and Boskalis in the country. Venlo is hiring Croatians who don't speak Dutch to drive its buses to solve a shortage of personn...

Kim Putters begins his efforts to complete a coalition puzzle that looks increasingly like a charity shop jigsaw with two pieces missing. The mindbending 3D maze that is the Marengo trial ends with life sentences for ruthless gangland boss Ridouan Taghi and two of his henchmen. The PVV gets itself in a tangle over support for Ukraine as the caretaker government agrees a 10-year military support pa...

Kim Putters begins his quest to form a new cabinet by wargaming the 501 permutations put forward by Pieter Omtzigt. The mayor of The Hague asks if the city "missed signals" about the riots that engulfed an Eritrean community event at the weekend. Scientists in Delft make a breakthrough in battery technology that shouldn't be taken with a pinch of salt. In sport, Irene Schouten shocks the world of...

The talks to form a right-wing coalition fall apart like a Babboe cargo bike after Pieter Omtzigt makes a smart getaway in lead negotiator Ronald Plasterk's car. After a debate that sets new standards for passive aggression, Geert Wilders asks another Labour-leaning chauffeur to try to get the show back on the road. Mark Rutte could be checking out early on the old coalition after Nato says it wan...

We ask where the talks to form a coalition government go next after Pieter Omtzigt pulls out of the negotiations, sending the other three party leaders into a state of synchronised shock. Meanwhile, the farmers' protests heat up again, sending thick black clouds of asbestos-filled smoke billowing across motorways and adding to the pressure on justice minister Dilan Yesilgöz. China denies hacking i...

The coalition negotiations show signs of grinding to a halt as Geert Wilders's cold storage freezer fills up and relations between the parties become increasingly frosty. The economic picture isn't helping, as inflation remains stubbornly high and housebuilders are unable to keep up with demand. Russia's invasion of Ukraine dominates proceedings at the International Criminal Court. Conspiracy theo...

Geert Wilders went viral with a serieus probleem this week, and he wasn't alone. Dilan Yesilgöz saw her party cleft in two by the refugee crisis, Amsterdam's lights went out two days in a row and Schiphol airport delayed its plan to make flights less frequent for a third time. PSV Eindhoven's winning streak came to an end, while Ajax's new signing finally overcame the forces of Brexit. Paintballin...

While a toilet paper discount caused stampedes in Utrecht, Geert Wilders broke the coalition talks' radio silence for the first time this week. Not to say how happy he is that tart from his home province is now officially on an EU heritage list, but to say that the four parties have "a major problem" following the VVD senate faction's surprising vote in favor of the controversial spreading law, wh...

The coalition talks resume with a teambuilding week at a country estate in Hilversum, where the four party leaders try to keep the media and the winter chill from the door. After months of rain, the sub-zero temperatures are welcomed by skaters, but the government's decision to pump extra gas from Groningen gets a frosty response. The International Court of Justice is called on to intervene in Isr...

It's time again for our annual look back at the microscandals and minor squabbles that enjoyed 15 minutes or less of notoriety on social media. Do you remember the Roman sewage row, the Pokémon stampede, the Anne Frank Borrelplank or the penile solar panels? Almost certainly not, so let us clutter your memory once more. And don't forget to vote for the most distinguished dollop in the dung heap us...

The country can and must be governed, coalition scout Ronald Plasterk said after handing in his homework, but who wants to govern the country like this? Pieter Omtzigt still has serious doubts about the PVV's relationship with the constitution, Dilan Yesilgöz doesn't want the VVD to join a coalition and Caroline van der Plas is already fed up with all the bickering. Yesilgöz started a constitution...

As the coalition talks hobble towards the start line, a new parliament of fresh faces is sworn in. But only after the old gang gets together for one last job: solving the mystery of some missing votes in Tilburg. The Brabant city is also the scene of some surreal footballing scenes as the orange Lionesses edge out the white ones in the Nations League. The Dutch government is taken to court over it...

The process of forming a new government gets off to an inauspicious start when Geert Wilders's candidate to canvas the 15 parties turns out to have some undisclosed dodgy dealings. Geert can't find a partner, Pieter is bickering about the prenups, Dilan just wants to be friends and Caroline is urging them to give it another try. Away from the negotiations, asylum seekers get the right to work more...

After the earthquake of Geert Wilders's election win, we pick our way through the rubble. Can the PVV form a coalition and where will Wilders find his team of ministers from? Or will it be a centrist cabinet with Frans Timmermans's PvdA-GL alliance? How many glasses of Prosecco will Vera Bergkamp need after meeting all 16 party leaders on Friday? And who will be the first to crack and phone Johan...

The podcast team reacts to what looks set to be the most dramatic election in the Netherlands for a generation. The NOS exit poll gives Geert Wilders's far-right PVV party 23% of the vote and a clear lead over its rivals. The VVD drops to third place behind the left-wing block of PvdA-GroenLinks and Pieter Omtzigt wins 20 seats three months after founding his party. We review the final week of the...

The three front runners are deadlocked as the election campaign enters its final days, all hoping a surge in support, a tactical shift or a last-minute gaffe will tip the balance their way. Mark Rutte takes time out from his busy schedule handing out flyers in Almere to measure up the curtains at Nato HQ. Away from the campaign, Schiphol's plans to cut flights are brought down under pressure from...

The gloves come off in the election campaign as Pieter Omtzigt is taken to task for his lack of detail, while kickboxing champion Rico Verhoeven takes a sideswipe at Dilan Yesilgöz. Meanwhile, Frans Timmermans drops a key manifesto pledge before dashing off to eye up German chancellor Olaf Scholz's pretzel collection. Mark Rutte has an eye on his next job as he heads to the Middle East to talk to...