Government stuck after provincial election result. Gaddafi takes Dutch helicopter crew hostage, while Queen Beatrix puts off trip to Oman. A cruel tradition in Limburg is questioned, while Squatters rights leave egg on the faces of the authorities.

Government stuck after provincial election result
It’s the day after and the Dutch papers are full of analyses about what the results of yesterday’s provincial elections will mean for the government. The provincial representatives will vote in May on the Upper House. So indirectly the provincial election has become a referendum on the government.

The coalition parties and the Freedom Party, which supports cabinet policy, have failed to win enough votes to gain a majority in the Upper House. Trouw writes “uncertainty about majority in Upper House”, AD concludes “The cabinet is stuck”. De Telegraaf goes further and headlines with “The cabinet is on thin ice in the Senate”.

De Volkskrant reports: “The winners of the provincial poll were the conservative VVD, the Freedom Party, D66 and 50Plus”. Although support for the Freedom Party was less than expected and less than in last year’s general election, it had no seats in the Upper House so the controversial party only stood to gain. Meanwhile the Christian Democrats (CDA) appear to have lost at least half of their seats in the Upper House, but didn’t do any worse than in the general election.

Meanwhile most of the opposition was celebrating. The Labour Party managed to hold on to its 14 seats in spite of poor opinion poll predictions. The Green Left appears to have gained slightly in spite of controversially supporting a police training mission in Afghanistan. On the other hand the Socialist Party has lost seats in the Upper House, but that may be because the protest party reached its climax four years ago. The Animal Rights Party lost slightly but it looks like it will be holding on to its one seat in the Senate in May.

Gaddafi takes Dutch helicopter crew hostage
Gaddafi has taken a Dutch naval helicopter crew hostage, headlines De Telegraaf. The mass-circulation paper is the only one to report that the crew of a Lynx helicopter fell into the hands of Gaddafi’s troops after a failed attempt to pick up a Dutch national and another European whose nationality has not been released in the city of Sirte, 450 kilometres east of the capital Tripoli.

The family of the crew members have been informed. Meanwhile the two evacuees were handed over to the Dutch embassy and have left Libya safely.

The helicopter set off on a mission to pick up the evacuees on Sunday from the frigate HNLMS Tromp, which arrived off the Libyan coast two days earlier. While evacuees were being taken on board, the helicopter suddenly became surrounded by armed supporters of Gadaffi. The helicopter did not have permission to land. The crew and the evacuees were taken prisoner.

The two civilians were released after intervention by the Dutch foreign ministry, but the helicopter crew is still being held. The Ministry of Defence has declined to comment further, nor would it shed light on why the mission failed. It is possible that the operation was leaked writes the paper. Last weekend two British units successfully evacuated around 150 Western refugees in a top secret mission.

Queen Beatrix postpones Oman trip
The unstable situation in the Middle East has led to the postponement of a trip to Oman by Queen Beatrix, Crown Prince Willem-Alexander and Princess Máxima, reports Trouw. So as to avoid political upset, the Government Information Service stresses that the decision was taken in consultation with the authorities in Oman. “Both countries have come to the mutual decision that the current developments demand full attention and that it is better to postpone the trip.”

It took some time to find an elegant solution to the problem as political pressure against the trip, in particular from the Labour Party, was mounting. The Queen was due to visit the port of Sohar, where there are mass protests. On Monday Dutch firm Havenbedrijf Rotterdam, which half owns the port, evacuated 15 Dutch staff members working at a refinery.

The trip was to be accompanied by a trade delegation. Dutch employers’ organisation VNO-NCW has expressed its disappointment because a lot of time and energy had been put into preparing the trade mission. A trip to Qatar next week on Thursday and Friday will go ahead. Royal trips are seldom postponed; it is the only second time Queen Beatrix has been forced to put off a foreign visit. In 1989, she postponed a trip to China because of the mass student protests.

Cruel tradition in Limburg questioned
Is pulling on a dead goose until its head snaps off a village ritual or animal cruelty? In Beeg in the Province of Limburg, it is traditional for a goose to be strung up to a rope, while horse riders take a yank of its head in turn, reports de Volkskrant. The one who manages to snap off the goose’s head becomes king or queen and is given a crown and a cloak. “It sounds gruesome,” says organiser Jo van der Sluys, “But if you grow up with it, it is not strange. It is a village ritual.” Next Tuesday (Shrove Tuesday) is the last day of the Carnival celebrations in the South of the Netherlands. In Beeg, it’s “Gawstrékkers” day, which means a dead goose will hang by its feet for riders to tug on. The tradition is centuries old and once upon a time was practiced throughout Europe.

Protests by the Animal Rights Party are getting louder and are echoed by the Dutch veterinary association. In the mid-eighties protests against the ritual slaughter led to the goose being given a lethal injection beforehand. However, now vets feel it is not their place to kill an animal for popular entertainment. Nevertheless, the Supreme Court and the Council of State have dismissed the animal rights campaigners’ protests and have allowed the ritual to go ahead. But there may come a day when the villagers will have to make do with a plastic goose.

Attempts to ban squatting thwarted by courts
Another court ruling appears to have thwarted government attempts to ban squatting, writes Trouw. The European Treaty of Human Rights is getting in the way of the ban.

First of all the courts ruled that squatters should be given notice about plans to evict them so that they would have the opportunity to test the decision in court. Then it appeared that the authorities cannot just dump their stuff on the street. Now it seems, anyone with a toothbrush, clothes and a bed in a building is protected by law (inviolability of the home). And ownership of a building is not enough grounds to have someone removed. The decision leaves egg on the faces of the authorities and squatters with a roof over their heads.

(as)