Press Review Thursday 28 January 2010

Commissions, committees and reports run like a red thread through most of the stories in this morning's dailies, but the story that dominates is the Goudswaard report on the Dutch pension system. It's not good news - like many other countries, the Netherlands has an ageing population that is living longer and it's putting an enormous strain on the public purse and the pensions system.

"Pensions cut unavoidable," writes de Volkskrant and several other papers echo the headline. The Goudswaard Committee released its report on the pensions system yesterday and the conclusions make uncomfortable reading: we will all have to work longer, pension premiums will go up and pensions payouts will go down.

De Volkskrant writes that in order to keep pension payments at the current level, premiums will have to go up by almost 50 percent. Social Affairs Minister Piet Hein Donner tells the paper, "We have to do something about the pensions law". The populist De Telegraaf - always eager to cast things in the worst possible light - writes "people's certainties about a comfortable retirement were thrown in a rubbish bin for good yesterday."

AD reports that the social affairs minister commissioned the investigation after the September 2008 credit crisis knocked 112 billion euros off the value of the investment portfolios held by pensions companies.

Interestingly enough, none of the papers mentions the Frijns Commission - it published its findings just last week - which said that pension fund managers gambled with pension money and lost a shocking 20 billion through risky investing.

Wilders' Freedom Party is "new radical right"

"Freedom Party: new right-wing radicals," headlines NRC.next and de Volkskrant. Both papers cover a report released by a committee of experts commissioned by the interior ministry. NRC.next writes that the investigation into radicalisation and polarisation in the Netherlands found that the views and policies of Geert Wilders' Freedom Party (PVV) contain "radical, right-wing elements". The report says the PVV is "nationalist-democratic" due to its positive view of its "own" and negative opinion of "others". NRC says that in contrast to an earlier report, this time the researchers have not labelled the PVV as "extreme right-wing".

De Volkskrant says the report was sent to the lower house of parliament yesterday and that an accompanying letter written by Interior Minister Guusje ter Horst says, "The researchers are wholly responsible for the contents of this report".

NRC.next quotes Mr Wilders as saying, "it is a scandalous report full of nonsense".

Prosecutors dismiss 'Intifada' charges
Trouw reports that the Public Prosecutor's Office (OM) has decided not to prosecute two Socialist Party MPs and a Palestine activist for shouting "Intifada, Intifada, free Palestine" at a demonstration last year. A well-known criminal lawyer - Bram Moszkowicz - filed a complaint against the three for inciting discrimination, hatred and violence.

The paper says footage of the three, Socialist MP Harry van Bommel, his colleague Sadet Karabulut and activist Gretta Duisenberg, had been uploaded to the internet and it was clear that they were shouting "Intifada, Intifada," while a group behind them was screaming "Hamas, Hamas, all the Jews to the gas".

NRC Handelsblad writes that the OM decided that the Intifada slogan does not constitute a criminal offence because it is not clear if it is a call to commit violence. Trouw adds that the OM says the "Hamas, Hamas" slogan is a criminal offence because as it clearly calls for all Jews to be sent to the gas, it is incitement to hatred.

Mr Moszkowicz tells the paper that he is pleased that the justice ministry has decided that calling for Jews to be gassed is a criminal offence.

Gay bashing in Amsterdam

AD reports that an Amsterdam man was assaulted by two youths because "he was carrying a shopping bag from a gay shop". On Monday evening, a 50-year-old man standing in front of Gays & Gadgets in the centre of Amsterdam was verbally abused, punched and kicked by two young men. The paper writes "Unfortunately for the attackers, the incident was recorded by the shop's security camera". The victim was hospitalised with cuts, bruises and a severe concussion.

The shop's owner, Hans Verhoeven, has uploaded the footage onto the internet to help catch the thugs because "the police refused to go to the hospital to take his statement". However, police have not welcomed Mr Verhoeven's action. A police spokesman said, "Apparently he has an agenda. We are still investigating the incident and we cannot say for certain that this has anything to do with hatred of homosexuals".

But, Mr Verhoeven says the cowardly attack was a hate crime, "he was carrying a bag with our logo and name on it and he was wearing a pink jumper. It seems like anyone who looks gay can get beaten up in the streets again".

Rouvoet: turn the music down

"Bands must protect the public's ears," says Youth and Family Minister André Rouvoet. AD reports that the Christian Union deputy prime minister has called on the entertainment industry to turn the volume down in order to prevent serious damage to the public's hearing.

The paper tells us that a recent investigation by Rotterdam's Erasmus Medical Centre revealed that listening to extremely loud music has severely damaged the hearing of 10 percent of young people, while 40 percent of young people have minor hearing damage.

Minister Rouvoet will shortly hold discussions with the entertainment industry, concluding concert venue owners and discos need to "do something about loud music".

NRC.next reports that at the end of 2009, the EU’s Consumer Affairs Commissioner Meglena Kuneva called on producers to limit the volume on MP3 players. Commissioner Kuneva says "young people don't know that they can do permanent damage to the hearing by listening to extremely loud music".

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