The Treaty of Maastricht on display in Maastricht: a photo-reportage for Crossroads
February 11, 2007 Leave a Comment
The Treaty of Maastricht is currently on display in Maastricht. Mayor Gerd Leers personally travelled all the way to Rome to pick up the heavy document which marked the start of the European Union 15 years ago. Everyone is welcome to go and have a look at the famous Treaty until next Thursday 15 February at the Hoofdwacht building on the Vrijthof square in Maastricht (free entrance). A photo-reportage for Crossroads. [more photographs...]
The history of carnival in Maastricht
February 10, 2007 Leave a Comment
During my childhood years in the late 1950’s, carnival didn’t start earlier than one week before Ash Wednesday. Our schoolmaster at the Saint Francis primary school, in the Maastricht district of Nazareth, would set out to teach us the new carnival song in Mestreechs, the dialect of Maastricht. [continued...]
University programmes more intensive
February 9, 2007 Leave a Comment
The Dutch Universities Union VSNU has taken seriously students’ complaints about too few class hours. Many students’ academic achievements in the first years also leave much to be desired, the Union’s newly elected chairman Sijbolt Noorda told De Volkskrant.
Two weeks ago many university students took part in the protest against the so-called “new learning” [...]
School books will be free
February 9, 2007 Leave a Comment
School books in secondary education will be free. This is contained in the coalition accord from Christian democrat CDA, Labour PvdA and ChristenUnie.
The ministry of education had already calculated that this could save parents more than 300 euro per child in school expenses each year.
A committee will be appointed to work on an action plan [...]
Popular snacks contain horsemeat
February 9, 2007 Leave a Comment
The animal rights foundation Wakker Dier reports today that many frikandels, krokets and hamburgers contain processed horsemeat.
The study was carried out by students at Wageningen University. 286 snacks were examined, 32 percent of them turned out to contain horsemeat.
Wakker Dier commissioned the study because there has been a growing number of questions from consumers about [...]
EU seeks to boost consumer trust in e-shopping
February 9, 2007 Leave a Comment
The European Commission launched a drive Thursday to boost consumer confidence in buying online, amid signs of mistrust about making cross-border purchases over the Internet.
The European Union’s executive arm said that a broad update of EU consumer protection rules would focus on improving online rights as associations were getting “hundreds of complaints” about [...]
EU launches Web site on health care abroad
February 9, 2007 Leave a Comment
The European Union Thursday launched a new Web site providing information for EU citizens on health care abroad, intended for holidaymakers, or those living or seeking special treatment in other EU countries.
[...] The new Web site seeks to inform EU citizens about the conditions for meeting the financial costs of health care abroad through [...]
Chinese sports brand conquers Benelux, starting in Maastricht
February 8, 2007 Leave a Comment
Chinese sports footwear manufacturer Li Ning will open up to twenty shops in the Benelux in the upcoming five years, as many as half of them in Flanders, De Standaard writes.
The company will open their first shop in the Benelux, in the Dutch city of Maastricht, on 1 April.
Where the second store – [...]
Dutch coalition accord: “Working together, Living together”
February 7, 2007 Leave a Comment
‘Working Together, Living Together’ is the motto of the incoming government. According to the new coalition, the Netherlands is in a new era that may cause uncertainty, but also offers new opportunities.
The Christian democrats (CDA), Labour (PvdA) and small Christian party ChristenUnie yesterday presented their coalition accord. The first paragraph suggests that reducing tensions between [...]
Maastricht Treaty for a week in Maastricht
February 6, 2007 Leave a Comment
The Treaty of Maastricht is in Maastricht. Mayor Gerd Leers personally travelled all the way to Rome to pick up the heavy document which marked the start of the European Union 15 years ago.
The Treaty will be displayed for one week as of Thursday 8 February on the Vrijthof square in the “Hoofdwacht” building. Next [...]
Moroccans happier in Antwerp than Liege
February 6, 2007 Leave a Comment
French is an important language in Morocco and the Moroccan culture has more ties to the Francophone one than the Dutch-speaking one. So it would make sense for Moroccans to feel more at home in French-speaking cities than Dutch-speaking ones.
That is what researcher Hilda Lubbers and professor Jan Pieter van Oudenhoven, both affiliated with [...]
Cabinet goes ahead with burqa ban
February 6, 2007 Leave a Comment
The burqa is to be banned in public places. The new cabinet is going ahead with the proposed ban on wearing this Islamic garment.
According to the draft coalition agreement, “face-obscuring clothing may be banned for the protection of public order and security”. The Christian democrats (CDA), Labour (PvdA) and small Christian party ChristenUnie thereby indicate [...]
Fitness enthusiasts bare bottoms
February 6, 2007 Leave a Comment
From today’s Radio Netherlands press review:
De Telegraaf dutifully reports the latest Dutch sporting craze. The world’s first nudist gym has been set up in a rustic town in the east of the Netherlands. The owner says “it has nothing to do with sex” and is simply “an ace lifestyle”. He says people are flocking to [...]
Future Dutch coalition pleased with draft agreement
February 6, 2007 Leave a Comment
The three parties involved in the coalition negotiations in the Netherlands are generally pleased with the draft coalition agreement. The agreement, which has been brokered behind closed doors for a number of weeks, was presented to the parliamentary parties on Monday. The parties have asked for a few small changes, and these will be discussed [...]
Fourth free newspaper to be launched
February 6, 2007 Leave a Comment
Telecoms company KPN and newspaper publisher PCM are to launch a free newspaper called Dag (Day) in May. It will be the fourth free newspaper on the Dutch market. KPN will be instrumental in spreading the newspaper digitally - for example through screens in trains and via mobile phones.
Source: DutchNews.nl, 6 February 2007
Constitution should list Dutch as official language
February 6, 2007 Leave a Comment
The position of Dutch as the language of government and culture as well as of everyday business should be anchored in the constitution.
The government should promote the simple and careful use of the Netherlands’ native tongue.
The draft coalition accord includes this idea.
The Christian Democrat CDA and the ChristenUnie have long wanted to give the Dutch [...]
Pupils vote Verdonk most newsworthy
February 6, 2007 Leave a Comment
According to Dutch school students Rita Verdonk was the most important figure in the news in 2006.
This emerged from a survey conducted among 2,500 schoolchildren. Some 20 percent of them voted for Minister Verdonk. Ayaan Hirsi Ali came in second place with 12 percent of the votes.
The children cited the execution of Saddam Hussein as [...]
Ryanair to offer flights from Maastricht Aachen airport to Barcelona
February 6, 2007 Leave a Comment
Maastricht Aachen airport press release:
Ryanair, One of Europe’s leading low-fare airlines will start a new service to Barcelona (Girona) on June 2nd 2007.
Ryanair will start with three flights each week:
FR6912 Maastricht – Barcelona (Girona) 13:25 15:25 Tue, Thu, Sat
FR6911 Barcelona (Girona) - Maastricht 10:55 13:00 Tue, Thu, Sat [...]
Holland third nicest place to live, says poll
February 6, 2007 Leave a Comment
The Netherlands is the third most pleasant country to live in after France and Australia according to a survey of 193 countries by internet magazine International Living. Criteria measured included the cost of living, tax levels, climate, opportunities for growing markets, safety, infrastructure and pollution.
Holland scored high in most categories but did particularly well [...]
More people get married
February 6, 2007 Leave a Comment
The number of marriages in Holland last year rose slightly to 73,000 says the national statistics office CBS, which attributes the increase to an upturn in the economy. ‘If consumers are optimistic, they spend more. That stimulates people to get married,’ the CBS said.
In 2005 only 72,000 people got married, the lowest figure since [...]
Violence in Netherlands twice as high as in EU
February 5, 2007 Leave a Comment
The Netherlands is among the top 5 of European countries where citizens run a great risk of being the victims of violent crime.
The chances of becoming a victim of crimes of violence are highest in Ireland, followed by the UK, Estonia, the Netherlands and Denmark. The level of committing of violence in the Netherlands is [...]
Dutch say crime on the increase
February 5, 2007 Leave a Comment
In 2006, 27.5 percent of the Dutch stated that they had fallen victim to crime. Youngsters and residents of strongly urbanised areas were relatively often targeted.
The Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) made the figure public yesterday. CBS could not provide comparative figures for 2005. The bureau did state, however, that the figure for 2006 was [...]
Women’s issues must not be forgotten: report
February 5, 2007 Leave a Comment
From today’s edition of Radio Netherlands press review:
De Volkskrant also covers an official report which says that the government is doing very badly as far as women’s emancipation is concerned. Most government ministries and departments consider the issue a thing of the past. Policy committees set up to further the position of women in society [...]
Queen Elizabeth II in the Netherlands
February 5, 2007 Leave a Comment
Queen Elizabeth II and her husband Prince Philip are visiting the Netherlands today.
In the early afternoon they will arrive at Rotterdam Airport, where they will be met by Queen Beatrix.
The British monarch has made very few visits to this country. She attended the William & Mary commemoration in July 1988.
Elizabeth II will attend a special [...]
Unemployment among foreigners down slightly
February 3, 2007 Leave a Comment
Unemployment among people in the Netherlands with a non-western foreign background has fallen slightly. The decrease was completely accounted for by the youngest age groups. For people with a non-western foreign background aged over 25 years unemployment did not decrease at all. Unemployment among people with a non-western foreign background fell more slowly than that [...]
12 February: Get to know the Netherlands, lecture about Dutch history
February 3, 2007 Leave a Comment
Why does the province of Limburg, with its capital Maastricht, often feel more closely related to Belgium than to the northern parts of Holland? What is the origin of the ultra-Dutch ‘polder model’? And how is it possible that the Netherlands has so many political parties and still manages to have relatively stable governments?
Answers to [...]
New coalition accord includes general amnesty
February 3, 2007 Leave a Comment
The negotiators from Christian Democrat CDA, Labour PvdA and ChristenUnie have reached agreement on a coalition accord for the new government.
Jan Peter Balkenende (CDA), Wouter Bos (PvdA) and André Rouvoet (ChristenUnie) will present the document to their parliamentary factions on Monday.
The last passages in the text will be completed in the coming days. The most [...]
Liege’s TGV station costs more than planned
February 3, 2007 Leave a Comment
How much will Liege’s TGV station cost? In 1999 as the first bricks of the station were laid down, the SNBC, Belgium’s rail operator, estimated that EUR 161 million would be enough to cover the construction of a brand new and highly functional train station, capable of accommodating France’s fast train, the TGV.
In [...]
Van Dale cancels censored dictionary plan
February 3, 2007 Leave a Comment
Publisher Van Dale has scrapped plans to produce a special censored version of a Dutch language dictionary for five primary schools in the Bible belt town of Staphorst. The dictionary, without swear words or references to sex, would compromise the company’s independence, director Herman Stuijlart said on Thursday evening.
‘Reactions [to the dictionary] have called [...]
A conversation with Dr. Geert W.J. Heling, professor of organizational behavior
February 3, 2007 Leave a Comment
‘The critical issue in development is cultural development ‘
Professor Geert W.J. Heling is a renowned professor and consultant on organizational behavior and change who is visiting Yemen as a part of the Maastricht School of Management Executive MBA program being held in Sana’a in collaboration with Sana’a University.
The Yemen Times met with Heling to [...]
