Noord-Holland provincial council is spending €10,000 on a farewell party for its finance head, who quit after the province lost €78m investing in Icelandic banks, the Haarlems Dagblad reports on Wednesday.

The party for Ton Hooijmaijers is to be held in the newly-opened Hermitage annex on the Amstel river. The council offices are said to be too small to hold all the guests. ‘He has a very big network,’ a provincial spokesman told the paper.
Several councillors are planning to boycott the bash. ‘It is a question of principles. He never apologised,’ said Labour councillor Gohdar Massom.