A system breakdown was responsible for the problems with KPN phone networks on Monday and three back-up systems for the 112 emergency number all failed to work, justice minister Ferd Grapperhaus told MPs on Tuesday afternoon. The initial analyses show that something went wrong in the back-ups,’ Grapperhaus said. KPN is now trying to establish what happened and, the minister said, the results of that investigation will be double checked. The breakdown meant that the 112 emergency phone line was out of action for several hours and the emergency services resorted to using other numbers. MPs called on the minister to overhaul the emergency number system but Grapperhaus declined to comment on alternative plans, pending the outcome of the review. More >
Plans to regulate freelancing published
More details have emerged about the government's plans to regulate self-employment, although social affairs minister Wouter Koolmees says it could take up to 10 years to finalise the legislation. Koolmees presented the plans on Monday as a 'fundamental enrichment' of labour law, but said it is more likely to take 10 than two years to see through the changes, news website Nu.nl reported. The aim of the new measures, which divide the market into three groups, is to offer freelancers more certainty, while combating fake self-employment set ups, Koolmees said. Bottom layer At the bottom of the market, the government plans to ensure that the self-employed earn a gross wage of at least €16 an hour. Given that the self-employed use around one third of their time on admin and other work-related tasks, this means a freelancer would earn €32 per three hours. Social affairs ministers inspectors will ensure that freelancers are paid the minimum tariff, Koolmees said. Middle level The self-employed who earn less than €75 an hour will be subject to a new system of checks, replacing the VAR and DBA declarations. When the new system is implemented, employers will have to answer questions online which will act as a check on whether the freelancer and the task they are being asked to to do classify as self-employment. This will guarantee employers do not have to pay premiums and taxes on behalf of the freelancer, the minister said. High earners People earning over €75 an hour will be subject to a different regime and the relationship between the freelancer and company will be set down in a formal declaration, valid per contract for no longer than one year. Freelancers may be asked to prove they have earned at least €75 an hour or the contract becomes invalid and their employer will have to pay premiums after all. Experts Labour market experts say they have doubts about the government's new plans. although efforts to better regulate the bottom end of the market are a step forward. 'But there is a risk the minimum tariff will become the maximum,' Tilburg professor Ton Wilthagen told the Financieele Dagblad. Some 8.6% of freelancers - mainly delivery workers - earn less than the current statutory minimum. More >
Nine children with measles on Urk
Nine children and one adult have been diagnosed with measles in the village of Urk, most of whom had not been vaccinated against the disease. Urk, a former island, is one of the most staunchly Protestant parts of the country and a place where many parents do not have their children vaccinated for religious reasons. Just 60% of two-year-olds on the island have had all the recommended childhood vaccination. Three of the children had been given at least one vaccination, broadcaster NOS rsaid. The 10 people infected with measles come from two families which had close links and no other cases have been found on the island. This means it is not an outbreak, the local health board told website Nu.nl. The last measles outbreak on Urk was in 2013, in a year in which 30,000 people nationwide were diagnosed with the disease. More >
Head to Laren to meet a millionaire
You are most likely to run into a Dutch millionaire in the village of Laren near Hilversum, where 10.8% of households have assets of over €1m, the national statistics agency CBS said on Tuesday. Next on the list is Bloemendaal with 10.4% and Blaricum where 9.8% of households are worth more than €1m, the CBS said. In total, the Netherlands had some 115,000 households with assets of over €1m in January 2017, or 1.5% of the total. The figures do not include the millionaires' own home or mortgage debts. Dutch millionaire households had disposable income averaging at €117,000 last year, compared with €40,000 for the average household. Amsterdam has more millionaires than any other city, with 6,400, followed by The Hague, Rotterdam and Utrecht. Almost half the country's millionaires make their money via their own companies. More >
One in five Dutch churches have new role
One in five churches in the Netherlands are no longer used as a place of worship and most have been turned into homes or cultural centres, according to research by Trouw. The Netherlands has some 6,900 churches and 1,400 have been given another function over the years. Experts expect more churches to be de-consecrated in the coming years as the population ages. Last year, national statistics office CBS said religion had become a minority pursuit in the Netherlands as the number of people identifying with a religious faith dropped below 50% for the first time. Roman Catholics remain the largest religious group, comprising 24% of the population, while 6% of Dutch people identified as Protestant and 5% as Muslim. More >
Olympic swimmer completes 11 city swim
Olympic swimmer Maarten van der Weijden completed his Elfstedentocht marathon in Friesland on Monday evening, reaching the finishing line in Leeuwarden at around 7.30pm, and raising €3.9m for cancer research. It was the 38-year-old second attempt to complete the 196km tour of Friesland's 11 historic cities, a year after he had to pull out after 55 hours on medical advice. Crowds lined the canals of Frisian towns along the route and Dutch media outlets provided round-the-clock coverage of Van der Weijden's marathon swim since he set out from Leeuwaarden on Friday. The Elfstedentocht, a traditional long-distance skating race held whenever Friesland's canals and rivers freeze over, has not taken place since 1997. Donations to the Maarten van der Weijden Foundation can be made via 11stedenzwemtocht.nl. More >
Pig farmer pay-offs agreed by cabinet
The cabinet will announce plans to cut the number of pigs in the Netherlands from 12 million to 10.5 million when it outlines measures to meet climate targets on Friday, the AD reported. In total, €60m is being set aside to help pig farmers who want to leave the business and €70m has been allocated to farmers who want to use more sustainable farming methods and reduce the size of their herds, the AD said. Sources told the AD that ministers consider reducing the amount of livestock in the Netherlands is a key part of meeting targets on nitrogen emissions and on cutting carbon dioxide. Reducing the amount of livestock has always been a controversial issue but now ministers have agreed to buy out farmers who want to quit the business, the paper said. More >
Half young adults use a dating app
Almost half young Dutch adults have used dating apps like Tinder and Grindr to find love and more than half consider seeking a partner online just as 'normal' as more traditional methods, according to a new survey by the Rutgers foundation for the Volkskrant. In total, one in five people in the Netherlands has made a profile for an online dating site, the survey found, ranging from 48% of the under 24s to 4% of the over 65s. Tinder is by far the most popular, followed by Happn and Grindr. However, the number of people actually going on a date with someone they've matched with online is much lower. 'Most people make a profile, swipe and find a match,' Rutgers researcher Hanneke de Graaf told the paper. 'But if you ask who actually went on a date, the percentage plummets. And if you ask who has had sex via a dating app, the figure is lower still.' The survey also found 20% of people had taken nude or sexual photos of themselves and 70% of them had sent them to a third person. And 30% of the 1,015 people in the survey said it is the fault of the people taking the photo of themselves if their image ends up in general circulation. More >
Wilders' anti-Moroccan court case to open
Appeal court judges are due today to begin hearings in the Geert Wilders ‘fewer Moroccans’ case, as the PVV leader re-starts an appeal against his earlier conviction. However, recent claims of possible political interference may result in further delays to the case, observers said. Broadcaster RTL Nieuws and the Telegraaf newspaper have both reported there was contact between the then-justice minister Ivo Opstelten and the head of the public prosecution department about the case in 2014. They also say Opstelten was keen to see Wilders prosecuted for leading the anti-Moroccan chant at a pre-election meeting. The original appeal began in May last year but Wilders' legal team successfully applied for the judges to be removed after alleging bias. The court had refused to delay the trial so that more research could be carried out into the decision not to prosecute D66 leader Alexander Pechtold for comments he made about Russians. 2014 The ‘fewer Moroccans’ case dates back to 2014 when Wilders asked a roomful of supporters if they wanted to have ‘more or fewer’ Moroccans in the country. When the crowd shouted back: ‘Fewer, fewer,’ Wilders responded: ‘We’ll take care of that.’ In December 2016, Wilders was found guilty of inciting discrimination against Dutch Moroccans. A panel of three judges said Wilders’s comments were ‘demeaning and insulting to the Moroccan population’. However, the court decided not to fine or sentence Wilders on the basis that a criminal conviction was sufficient punishment in itself. More >
Suicide rate drops among men and teens
There was a significant drop in the number of men and teenagers committing suicide in the Netherlands last year, but a slight rise in the number of women ending their lives, the national statistics office CBS said on Tuesday. In total, 1,176 men committed suicide, a drop of 10% on 2017. Among teenagers the number of suicide deaths fell from 81 in 2017 to 51. Slightly more women killed themselves, taking the national total to 1,829. The reduction last year means the number of suicides is back at the 2012 level of 10.6 per 100,000. In the early 1980s the rate was as high as 14.5 per 100,000, the CBS said. If you, or someone you know, needs help, you can contact 0900 0113 (available 24/7) or to go website 113.nl. More >
Amsterdam votes to apologise for slavery
Amsterdam is likely to be the first Dutch city to formally apologise for its role in the slave trade after a majority of councillors backed the move. Seven parties holding 31 of the 45 council seats voted on Monday to offer the city's apologies at next year's Keti Koti, the annual commemoration of slavery, on July 1. Don Ceder, of the ChristenUnie group, said: 'This should have happened much earlier,' while Dehlia Timman of D66 described the vote as 'a historic moment'. The other parties supporting the move were GroenLinks, PvdA, SP, Bij1 and Denk. Rutger Groot Wassink, Amsterdam's alderman for social affairs and diversity, said the council's officials would honour the decision, but added that the next year should be spent researching the city's slave-owning past. 'If you're going to apologise, you need to know exactly what for,' he told Het Parool. Former minister for integration Roger van Boxtel expressed 'deep regret, tending towards remorse' for the slave trade in a statement in 2001, but stopped short of saying sorry. Rotterdam's mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb said in 2018 that the government should apologise, but his pleas fell on deaf ears. Amsterdam held a one-third stake in the Society of Suriname, which established and ran the trade in the South American colony for a century. Leiden University historian Karwan Fatah-Black, who recently published a book on the subject, said: 'The council played a prominent role in the history of slavery.' More >
