Politics of the Netherlands

A police officer was arrested on Monday on suspicion of leaking investigation information to a Moroccan-Dutch criminal organization, NRC reports. According to the newspaper, the officer in question is of Moroccan descent and works at the so-called Safety and Security Department, tasked with providing security to the royal family and threatened politicians like Geert Wilders, among others.

According to a Dutch Minister, authorities will count by hand all the votes cast in next month’s general elections, in order to avoid the possibility of a cyber attack.

Interior Minister Ronald Plasterk said in a letter to parliament on Wednesday that he can not rule out that state actors may try to benefit from influencing political decisions and public opinion in the Netherlands.

The continuation of monitoring of the judicial system in Bulgaria is not in the way of its rotating presidency of the Council of the EU as of January 1, 2018, commented to journalists the Vice President of the European Commission Frans Timmermans.

With a payed advertisement the Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte tells the illegal immigrants that if they “either you will behave normally or you will leave”.

The Dutch Prime Minister chose this message at the light of the upcoming elections at the 15th of March.

A Dutch court convicted populist anti-Islam lawmaker Geert Wilders of hate speech Dec. 9 at the end of a trial he branded a politically motivated "charade" that endangered freedom of speech.

Geert Wilders, the Dutch anti-Islam opposition leader, said on Oct. 28 that he refuses to attend his trial next week and that he sees it as politically motivated. 

Wilders is accused of discrimination and inciting racism in remarks made on live television in 2014 when he led a roomful of people chanting that they wanted fewer Moroccans in the Netherlands. 

The European Parliament has expressed concern about a culture of self-censorship among journalists in Albania in its draft resolution on the country's progress in 2015.

AGERPRES special correspondent Adina Panaitescu reports: The phenomenon of migration and threats to the rule of law were some of the challenges discussed during a trans-border dialogue with citizens of Romania and Bulgaria, conducted by First Vice President of the European Commission Frans Timmermans, together with Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev and Romanian Justice Minister Robert Cazanc

AGERPRES special correspondent Adina Panaitescu reports: Europe will be able to determine its future if it sticks together, said First Vice President of the European Commission Frans Timmermans during a trans-border dialogue with Bulgarian and Romanian citizens, held together with Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev and Romanian Justice Minister Robert Cazanciuc, on Thursday, in Ruse, Bulgaria

Secretary of State for strategic affairs Daniel Ionita in The Hague on Thursday participated in the Global Conference on CyberSpace 2015 (GCCS 2015), organised by the Dutch Foreign Affairs Ministry, with the participation of the Prime Minister of Netherlands Mark Rutte.

Photo credit: (c) RADU TUTA / AGERPRES STREAM