NationStates Jolt Archive

the ANP press reports:
Lousewies van der Laan, the leader of the Democrats party welcomes the result of the snap elections held after the fall-down of the conservative coalition... She appreciates the vote of confidence of the Dutch electorate, making the Democrats the largest party of the Netherlands.
The Prime-Minister to-be then continued by addressing the major point of the election programme of the Democrats:
"In general, 65 years would be considered retirement age. However, this year is the 65th birthday of the BeNeLux agreement and we think that it is very important that this great alliance is revived once more. After all, we have always been able to trust our Belgian an Luxemburgan friends and the European Union seems to be losing more and more of its power. The secession of Slovenia [OOC: I presume that when Slovenia was incorporated in Yugoslavia, it withdrew from the EU] and the instabilities in the Balkan region show that the European Union might not be the way to go forever. Therefore we suggest continued intensification of our relations with Belgium and Luxembourg. This does NOT mean we withdraw support from the European Union, of course. But it must be taken into account that popular sentiment in the Netherlands is not very positive towards the EU right now.
Finally, domestically, the Democrats will try and form a coalition with the Labour party and hope to lead the Netherlands to greater prosperity in the future. Thank you"

The Republic of France congratulates the new government of the Netherlands, in their peaceful transition of state in the recent elections. We look forward to many years of cooperation with PM Lousewies van der Laan, as we seek to improve the condition of the EU in the world, especially in contrast to the CIS bloc.

PM van der Laan's spokesperson:
Prime Minister van der Laan would like to thank the great French republic for their words of support. She also hopes that her recent negative comments regarding the European Union merely represent a fear. Not an expectation.
In addition to that, the government of the Netherlands will meet with the governments of Belgium and Luxembourg later today to discuss the desired increased cooperation in the BeNeLux framework. On the agenda are tax harmonisation, a merger of the national soccer leagues and the formation of a single army.

Israel recognizes the Netherlands and hopes all is well in their peaceful little state.

In addition, Israel urges the Netherlands to join with the rest of the world to ensure tranquility within the Middle East.

Thank you.

Amsterdam Times:
Fryslan demands more freedom
The northern province of Fryslan demands a larger degree of self-control, according to the leader of the Frysian Nationalist Party. "Independence is out of the question, but a more loose association with the government in The Hague would be highly appreciated", he was quoted as saying.
The new government, led by PM Lousewies van der Laan has responded to this in a non-negative sense. In fact, she said, it might be time to rethink the structure of the country in general. Especially when taking the the intensifying bond with our Belgian and Luxembourgian friends into consideration.

Amsterdam Times:
Benelux announces tax and army deal
BRUSSELS - Today, the prime-ministers of the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg held a joint press conference. They announced that a deal has been made to harmonise the tax systems of the 3 Benelux nations. From now on, citizens and corporations will no longer face national tax departments, but the Benelux Fiscal Authority.
In addition to that, the 8 year old experiment of a joint naval-squadron has been such a success that all army divisions will operate from now on under one flag. Related to this, funding for all army divisions will be increased to a total of $25 billion (OOC an increase of about 25%, I guess).


Navy squadron moved to Netherlands Antilles
THE HAGUE - The Minister of Defence announced today that a fleet of 5 ships, 30 fighter planes and a bomber will be moved to the Netherlands Antilles (Caribbean). The situation in the Venuzuelan-Brazilian conflict seems to have the possibility of creating dangers for Dutch interests and Dutch citizen currently based in Suriname. In case the violence might spread into Suriname, the Navy and Airforce will not hesitate to bring Dutch citizens to safety. However, for now, these units will be stationed at the Willemstad Naval base on Curacao, the Netherlands Antilles.

We are glad to find our European friends on our north-east corridor peacefully existing alongside the other, and we hope that these new associations with the ancient kingdoms there provide a new sense of stability for other EU nations.

[ooc: if you want to unify the kingdoms, let me know in th EU thread...]