It’s time for solutions in Brussels, but time appears to be up for 18-year-old Mauro. While crime fighters go sci-fi, an inside job is foiled by a TV crime reporter. And Amsterdam rolls out the red carpet for train passengers, but what about the back of the central station?

Time for real solutions at euro summit
Eurozone leaders met in Brussels yesterday in an attempt to prevent financial chaos. Deliberations were long and difficult, reports de Volkskrant. The meeting was suspended a number of times. One diplomat described it like watching a film which is interrupted by advertising.

Trouw goes with the headline “Half-baked euro agreement needs lots of fine tuning”. De Telegraaf compares the summit to a poker game. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said, “It’s time for real solutions.”

But while Trouw writes that a much larger emergency fund is needed (1000 billion euros), de Volkskrant reports that the leaders agreed not to increase the 300 billion-euro fund (for the time being,) but to use it more cleverly. The hope is that private investors and non-euro countries will buy government bonds rather than the weak euro countries.

Banks have been asked to write off at least 50 percent of the Greek debt, so far however they are only prepared to do so for 40 percent. And banks themselves will have to increase their buffers. De Volkskrant reassures us that the Dutch banks are safe as they got rid of their risky southern European government bonds at the beginning of the crisis.

Meanwhile all eyes were on Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. While parliamentarians literally got into a fight in Rome, Berlusconi was only able to come up with a repetition of vague promises that he had failed to fulfil in the past.

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Disappointment at decision to send Mauro back
There is huge disappointment at Immigration and Asylum Minister Gerd Leers’ decision not to grant a residence permit to an 18-year-old Angolan asylum seeker. Mauro Manuel came to the Netherlands at the tender age of nine as an underage unaccompanied asylum seeker.

His foster family and friends have campaigned to allow him to stay. Dutch law stipulates that underage asylum seekers can be sent back to their original country when they turn 18. But the minister has discretionary powers to allow hard-luck cases to stay.

Nrc.next writes that there are thousands of young people like Mauro. Most of them disappear into illegality because they do not have the network to set up a campaign. These people are caught in a limbo because it is also impossible for them to go home.

The paper accompanies two young illegal men to Brussels to attempt to get the right papers from their embassies to return to their countries. Within five minutes, they are sent away empty-handed.

In Trouw, Mauro’s foster mother puts her trust in a debate in parliament today. But it is not clear what the Christian Democrat party will do. At first they supported calls to allow Mauro to stay, but many seemed to change their mind yesterday after the minister’s decision.

A motion to allow young people like Mauro to stay is being prepared for a Christian Democrat party conference on Saturday.

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Sci-fi technology tested in CSI lab
It sounds like science fiction: virtual reality glasses, heat cameras and a CSI lab. The Netherlands Forensic Institute demonstrated its latest technology to solve crime yesterday in The Hague. Trouw describes the ‘murder scene’ in a three-room flat filled with second-hand furniture and old fashioned flowery wall paper.

As of today, investigators can practice their skills in the so-called CSI lab. A heat camera shows that the handle of the murder weapon is still warm and that a cup of tea on the window sill is still hot. An investigator wearing virtual reality glasses can survey the situation, while specialists at a different location watch the footage.

The idea is to secure clues as quickly as possible. “We are testing the camera in around six cases. But the data cannot be used in court yet.” No doubt the sci-fi equipment will find its way into TV detective series before it actually solves a real murder case.

Inside job foiled by TV crime reporter
A Rabobank manager, who was arrested earlier this month for dealing in weapons, was planning to rob the bank from within. AD reports that TV crime reporter Peter R. de Vries will reveal the dastardly plan in his programme on Saturday.

Police arrested 25-year-old Koen B. following a tip from the crime reporter. Ten firearms were found in his car at the time of his arrest. Later a stash of weapons was found in a store room under a station in Rotterdam. The weapons were bought from former arms factory workers in Belgium. The suspect sold weapons to an undercover buyer ‘John’. He also told him he was planning to steal 10 million euros worth of valuables from private safes at the bank.

The bank manager appears to have lived a double life and does not seem to be very pleased with the unwelcome publicity. His lawyer tried to take out an injunction against the broadcast of Saturday’s programme. I dare say he was worried about his reputation.

Red carpet treatment for Amsterdam’s train passengers
Amsterdam’s central station finally re-opened the doors to its main front entrance yesterday after seven years of looking like a building site, AD reports. Passengers had to use the side entrances to the station, while the main entrance was fenced off for work on the North-South Metro Line. Yesterday, passengers were literally given the red carpet treatment. But the actual doors were obscured by party tents.

Unfortunately, I always enter the station by the back entrance which is still under construction. Every time I come to work I have to navigate my way past the latest obstacle thrown up by the building work. So I hope when the back of the station has finally been finished there’ll be a red carpet from my ferry to the train to Hilversum...

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