The United Nations' highest court, the International Court of Justice in the Hague, has acknowledged Kosovo's independence from the Republic of Serbia. Kosovo broke away from Serbia and unilaterally declared independence in 2008. Serbia argued the move was an illegal violation of its sovereign integrity. But the panel of international judges disagreed, stating that Kosovo's declaration of independence was not in conflict with international law.
Yet another attempt to form a new Dutch coalition government has fallen apart in the Hague. The conservative VVD party was unable to agree with Labour on when and how to make the budget cuts necessary to bring the nation's finances back in order. This means the so-called 'purple-plus' coalition between the VVD, Labour, the Green Left and the D66 party is no longer a viable option. This week, Queen Beatrix asked former prime minister Ruud Lubbers to become the new informateur, charged with facilitating the negotiations between the various political parties. The queen specifically instructed Informateur Lubbers to include all of the parties in the talks and to look into whether it is possible to create a right-wing coalition between the VVD, the Christian Democrats and anti-Islam MP Geert Wilders' Freedom Party, the PVV.
Dutch troops in Afghanistan have begun their withdrawal. This week, the soldiers started cataloguing and packing up the equipment they have used in the war-torn country. The Dutch mission comes to an end on 1 August, but it will take many months for all of the troops and material to make it back to the Netherlands.
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