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17/11/2009Dutch news in brief, Tuesday 17 November 2009

Read the roundup of today's Dutch press from Radio Netherlands.

Dutch Euro MP still furious with Nicaragua
The row between conservative Euro MP Hans van Baalen and the Nicaraguan government continues in the De Telegraaf.

The paper reported "Van Baalen is furious" and that "after being physically and verbally threatened, accused of plotting a coup, called a Dutch pirate, and being thrown out of Nicaragua, Euro MP Hans van Baalen was finally able to set foot on safe European soil on Monday".

Last week MEP van Baalen was in Managua to chair a meeting of the International Liberals, which represents more than 100 Liberal parties across the globe, and met with representatives of Nicaragua's liberal opposition parties.

He accused left-wing president Daniel Ortega of manipulating the constitution in order to run for a second consecutive term and persuaded the divided opposition to unite and field a joint candidate to run against Ortega in the 2011 presidential election.

The Protestant paper reported that van Baalen was accused of interfering in the internal politics of a sovereign nation and ordered to leave the country. Things well and truly heated up after a deputy minister said the Netherlands was "a shitty little country". However, calm appeared to return after Managua apologised to The Hague.

But things have heated up again; according to Trouw, as President Ortega accused van Baalen of sounding out the army leadership as to the possibility of staging a coup d'état.

The Euro MP dismissed the accusations as "ridiculous", adding "Ortega is just trying to destroy the Liberal opposition's credibility". De Telegraaf quoted him as saying: “Absolute nonsense, just more of the usual nonsense that Ortega spouts”.

FNV to ask for wage increase
AD reported the FNV trade union, the Netherlands' largest, will enter the 2010 round of Collective Labour Agreement (CAO) negotiations demanding a wage increase of 1.25 percent.


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