Tag Archives: Netherlands

Dutch Referendum: Euro-scepticism

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Dutch Finance Minister Gerrit Zalm is in the news again. Last time I read about him it was because he had started a weblog. This time the issue is different: he describes himself as being “totally fed up” with the fact the Dutch public thinks that it was effectively robbed by the way the euro was introduced.

Behind this ‘frustration’ lies a startk reality: the controversy over the valuation of the the guilder at the time of monetary union is one of the key factors fuelling the ‘no’camp in the forthcoming referendum.
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The Last Foreign Correspondent

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This is really a case of two stories in search of a common theme: a theme, that is, which goes beyond the rather random unifying factor of the work of Shanghai based ‘foreign correspondent’ Fons Tuinstra. In fact both points emerged from browsing his blog.

In the first place we have the problem with the uses and abuses of statistics – an issue which surfaced once more this week with the outrageous use of the carefully crafted 7% Japanese GDP growth number (those looking for a rather more jaundiced – not to say realistic – view on this, could do worse than consult Bloomberg’s ever intelligent William Pesek).

But Fons target this week is not the investor-seeking financial press, but rather his own compatriots, the Dutch politicians, and how they have turned the creative use of statistics into an art form, for, as he says:”Dealing with figures is an art: the Dutch call themselves the Chinese of Europe, for a good reason.”
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The Dutch Auction

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Following points made by both Frans and Elliott in the comments sections, the Netherlands may well in fact breach the 3% growth and stability pact limit next year. I bet Zalm is blogging away more furiously than ever. But who will be the object of his wrath this time?
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Stricter drug laws

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(Published, then removed earlier version of this when i meant to save it as a draft. Apologies for the confusion.)

Yahoo! News – EU Agrees Drugs Law, Dutch ‘Coffee’ Shops Survive

This shows just how much policy is made in Brussels nowadays. This happens to be real bad policy, too (the small posession stuff.) But regardless of that, should this really be decided on the EU level?

Read somewhere else our minister of justice saying in essence the tide has turned, after 90s trend of softer drug laws. I’m sure it’s true w/ all the rightwing tough on crime rheotoric of late, in most of Europe.

So, a great victory for us. Yay.

I’m sure this will strike some of our reders as particulary bad news:

“Donner said his government was considering rules under which coffee shops would only be allowed to sell soft drugs to Dutch residents to meet its obligation to dissuade tourists from going to Amsterdam for drugs.”

Here’s some quite good news though:

“Drug use inside the EU has been stabilizing after years of rising sharply, according to surveys by the EU’s drugs monitoring agency in Lisbon.”
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UEFA: Home of the cliche

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Earlier today, the draw took place for next year’s European Football Championships (Euro 2004), placing the sixteen teams into four groups:

Group A: Portugal, Greece, Spain, Russia
Group B: France, England, Switzerland, Croatia
Group C: Sweden, Bulgaria, Denmark, Italy
Group D: Czech Republic, Latvia, Germany, Netherlands

The BBC Sport website has a good page detailing all the fixtures for the tournament.
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