Rotterdam gets local election recount and NATO refuses to buy Dutch military equipment in Afghanistan. A glossy magazine has MPs fuming, bike racks occupy local politicians and Book Week kicks off.

All the papers cover yesterday's decision by Rotterdam Mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb to recount all the votes from last week's municipal elections. "Recount in Rotterdam," is a headline in almost all the papers, the exception being AD, which goes with "unprecedented chaos".
 
AD writes, "evidence of irregularities in Rotterdam is mounting," adding, "This paper has received 140 reports of irregularities". These range from more than one person in a voting booth, friends of politicians giving unsolicited advice to voters, missing ballots and problems with counting votes.
 
NATO refuses to pay for Uruzgan military equipment
Dutch forces will be withdrawing from the Afghan province of Uruzgan on 1 August and there is a great deal of uncertainty about who will replace them and what will happen to all their equipment. There had been reports that NATO would purchase the equipment but that now seems unlikely: "Slap in the face for Uruzgan mission," headlines De Telegraaf on its front page. The populist paper writes that NATO and the US have both "refused to pay a penny" for the equipment that has been estimated to be worth "many millions of euros".
 
The paper says sources within NATO's Brussels headquarters say, "it would be unbelievably arrogant if the Dutch government were to demand that the US pay for the equipment that Dutch forces are leaving behind". A US NATO representative tells the paper, "they can leave the equipment where it is but we are not paying a penny for it".
 
Agriculture Minister’s magazine angers parliament
The Agriculture Ministry is 75 years old today and to mark the event, the ministry has published a magazine celebrating its work. However, the magazine - a glossy called Gerda after outgoing Agriculture Minister Gerda Verburg of the Christian Democrats CDA - has infuriated many MPs. Trouw writes "lower house furious: taxpayers fund Gerda's glossy," adding that many parties are calling it "a Christian Democrat election stunt".
 
Under the headline "Verburg's glossy Gerda doesn't shine," de Volkskrant writes that some 830,000 copies of the free magazine will be delivered today. The left-wing paper writes that the lower house is holding an emergency debate on the issue today, noting that the magazine cost the ministry 400,000 euros.
 
One Socialist party MP is calling for the Christian Democrats to be billed for the mag, "CDA publications should be paid for by the CDA", said the MP.
 
Gerda Verburg defended the publication, saying it was to inform people about agriculture and nature in the Netherlands and added, "It works out at just 50 euro-cents per household".
 
Serious bike rack shortage
Several papers report on the results of large-scale research by the Dutch Cyclists' Union, which shows there is a serious shortage of bike racks throughout the country. Both De Telegraaf and de Volkskrant carry photographs of a scene that will be familiar to anyone who has ever been to a Dutch train station: a chaos of bicycles and someone desperately looking place to park their two-wheeler.
 
The Cyclists' Union, which campaigns for better cycling conditions in the Netherlands, investigated the quality and quantity of bicycle parking facilities in 43 municipalities across the Netherlands and discovered "a serious shortage of bike racks" in more than a third of the municipalities. The paper writes, "the union has called on all newly elected councillors to highlight the issue during coalition negotiations".
 
Book Week kicks off
Tuesday evening's Book Ball kicked off the 75th edition of Book Week and AD carries a photograph of Dutch literary giant Harry Mulisch arriving at the gala in Amsterdam's Stadschouwberg theatre. The theme of the annual festival celebrating Dutch literature is youth and being young. AD says "this year's theme was explored in a variety of ways by the many performances marking the beginning of the week".
 

De Volkskrant covers the gala on its front page under the headline, "reading liberates you". The paper illustrates it nicely with a photograph of writer Adriaan van Dis rapping verses written by Joost van den Vondel 1587-1679.