Britain's new prime minister should read his briefs and understand that Irish backstop is not there to punish the United Kingdom, Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte has said in an interview with the BBC. 'I hate Brexit from every angle. I hate a no-deal Brexit from every angle,' Rutte said. 'The backstop is not there because the Netherlands or anyone wants to punish the United Kingdom, it's there because it's the only logical result, given the red line.' Rutte said he hoped that when the new prime minister had read all the briefs and become aware of all the details of the Brexit negotiations that he will realise 'something has to change in terms of the British position'. 'If that happens – a new election, a referendum, a change in terms of the red lines – if that is possible then we can look at the political declaration,' Rutte said. The Dutch prime minister has been a vocal critic of Brexit and stated several times that the British government will have to change its position on issues such as customs union and the internal market to renegotiate the withdrawal agreement. Outside the EU, the UK will not be big enough to have an important position internationally, Rutte said. 'It will be a diminished country. It is unavoidable because you are no longer part of the European Union and you are not big enough to have an important position on the world stage on your own,' he said. 'I’m absolutely convinced if it’s a hard Brexit, economically the impact is even bigger. I don’t want it but I cannot make changes to the UK negotiating position,' he said.  More >

The team investigating the downing of flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine in 2014 will name the first four suspects at Wednesday's news conference, Ukraine's deputy foreign affairs minister Olena Zerkal has told news agency Interfax. Charges against the four will be brought after their names are made public by the Joint Investigation Team, Zerkal said. 'After that, the criminal court at Schiphol will start working to consider this case,' she said. Asked if this concerns Russian army's senior officers, Zerkal said the transfer of weapons such as the Buk anti-aircraft missile system, which was used to shoot down the plane, 'is impossible without the top brass's permission'. Last week it emerged that the JIT had written to the relatives of the 298 people who died to tell them that they will be briefed about the new discoveries on Wednesday ahead of a press conference. The JIT is an alliance of investigators from the Netherlands, Australia, Belgium, Malaysia and Ukraine. The investigation has already determined that the missile which brought down the Malaysia Airlines plane came from a launching system which originated at a Russian military base, but not about who launched the missile. Last May the Netherlands said it is holding Russia responsible for the disaster. Russia has consistently denied any involvement. Investigative research group Bellingcat has told the AD it will publish new names of people suspected of involvement next week.  More >

A Socialist Party councillor from Eindhoven has been arrested while on holiday in Turkey and accused for having links to terrorism. Murat Memis, who has been banned from leaving the country, is reportedly suspected of producing propaganda for the Kurdish rebel group PKK. ‘They have decided that I am a member of the PKK on the basis of my tweets,’ Memis told the Volkskrant. Memis was arrested a month ago while he was at a restaurant and spent four days in jail before being released to live with his family. The news of his arrest has only recently been made public and he has been told not to leave the country while the investigation is ongoing. Foreign minister Stef Blok said earlier this week he is extremely concerned about the case and has offered consular services to Memis. ‘The case is now up to the judge,’ Blok said. Kurdish Memis told the Volkskrant his father was politically active and supported the Kurdish cause. He too has made no secret of his Kurdish roots. His father had left Turkey in 1993 and the family was reunited in the Netherlands in 1999. In mid May, two weeks after Memis was arrested, the Dutch foreign ministry amended its travel advice for Turkey. The new position warned holidaymakers that their phones and other electronic apparatus can be confiscated if officials think there may be a connection to organisations considered terrorist. In addition, the authorities have the power to act if people make comments on social media or elsewhere which are considered unacceptable by the government. ‘Take this into account if you are travelling to Turkey,’ the recommendations state.  More >

Dutch king Willem-Alexander has told a state banquet in Ireland that the Netherlands is well aware of the far-reaching implications of Brexit for Ireland. The king and queen Maxima are on a three day visit to Ireland and the king made the speech at a banquet hosted by the country's president Michael Higgins. “The Netherlands is well aware of the far-reaching implications of Brexit for Ireland. (…) We will continue working with you and all our partners in Europe on solutions that safeguard the interests of both Ireland and Europe.” #NLIRL https://t.co/GqcGKxJQmi pic.twitter.com/p47sQqul0G — Koninklijk Huis (@koninklijkhuis) June 12, 2019 'The UK’s decision [to leave the EU] is something that Ireland and the Netherlands both regret and respect. It also compels us to work together to safeguard the things we value most dearly,' the king said in his address. Ireland, the UK and the European Union are the guardians of the Good Friday Agreement, the king said. 'The spectres of the past cannot be allowed to return. No one wants to revisit the era of the Troubles. No one wants to see fences on the border.' The Netherlands, he said, is well aware of the far-reaching implications of Brexit for Ireland and for everyone on the island. The Netherlands will continue working with the country and 'all our partners in Europe on solutions that safeguard the interests of both Ireland and Europe'. The visit, accompanied by a trade mission aimed at enhancing the potential for economic cooperation between the Netherlands and Ireland, ends on Friday in Cork.  More >