Dutch sovereignty under threat?

The Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan, requested explanation and actions on the placement of a Turkish origin boy with Dutch nationality  in a Dutch lesbian foster family and this was seen as interfere in national legislations, heavily attacked by the entire Dutch political spectrum. But a law that allows the US to invade Den Haag if there are American citizens prosecuted by the ICC passes between the lines and nobody ever did anything about it - is the Dutch sovereignty under threat? And by whom?  

Last week there had been some fuzz between the Netherlands and Turkey. The situation was the following: Dutch child protection agency had removed a Dutch-Turkish boy from his biological parents to a foster family several years ago. The court had ruled that the boy was facing mistreatment at home when he was a baby. He was placed with a lesbian couple.

My views on the Schengen hypocrisy as a Westerner

The argument of ‘migrant floods’ has not held in the past, doesn’t make sense now and will also be used to deny Croatia access to Schengen. It is not like the Netherlands or other Western European countries are this Walhalla of jobs. Others see economic problems as well and will not come in huge numbers to a shrinking economy. This shrinking will lead to some Dutch losing their jobs. But that is called capitalism! 

In Paola's previous article on the Schengen Treaty and her views on Bulgarian accession, it was very nice to read that two sides were recognized – Western European domestic politics and Bulgarian affairs. I fully agree with this position. It is a combination of ‘old’ Europe saying no out of domestic consideration while Bulgaria is facing challenges making it troublesome to get in. However I want to make one addition: it is more about Western European politics than Bulgarian affairs. I’ll come straight to the point.

Is he a king or a Prime Minister?

On March 13th Jorge Mario Bergoglio became a Pope under the name Franciscus I. He is now the leader of about 1.2 billion Catholics but is he only theirs and what kind of a leader he is? Is the leadership of the Pope defined by the time of his papacy and the perceptions of the people?

On March 13 2013, about 1.2 billion Catholics heard the news, “Habemus Papam”, or “We have a Pope”. The Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Jorge Mario Bergoglio became successor of Benedict as Franciscus I. Among the usual questions – what will be his politics on gay marriages, what will be the new direction for the church, will he fight child abuse by priests – one I didn’t expect. It was asked by a kid and as the majority of kid’s questions, it stunt me with directness – is he like a king or more like a Prime Minister?

Faster, higher, stronger…on Performance Enhancing Drugs

Cycling fans will remember the tragic death of Tommy Simpson in 1967 on the Mount Ventoux. He died because of a combination of heat exhaustion, alcohol and doping. I would like to see what will happen with sponsorships. Does Nike, Adidas and other want to commit themselves to people who take doping, as it might harm their image of sports enhancing products? Maybe it will take the money out of sports for a bit, creating new, more honest competition.


As a kid I played many different sports, then turned to semi -professional career in table tennis and some athletes truly inspired me. Unfortunately some of them fell from grace because they were using forbidden Performance Enhancing Drugs to prepare for competition. Although both our sports are not so easily affected by drugs because of their nature, I hate to see the cheating - to see some people harming the basic definition of sports: pure honest competition between persons bound by rules in which the strongest triumphs. And it is all done for money. Nonetheless there is a lot of hypocrisy going around this.

Can democracy exist without a trust - a down-to-ground talk

Is democracy a game worth playing? Walnuts spotted this video on TED - political scientists Ivan Krastev takes a close look on democracy in an European context from the perspective of a person, who saw both socialist and democratic governments, elections and changes. His main claim is that as a result of 5 revolutions people have become increasingly interconnected, with better access to information which paved a way of mistrust to political elites. Can then democracy exist when this mistrust is a permanent feature?

The cynics behind Schengen

 Schengen enlargement with Romania and Bulgaria represents the fear Western Europe will be overflowed. Today Schengen is used to win elections but is also a denied area because of street turmoil that took down a government without a plan on what to do further. 

The Schengen Treaty is an agreement, meant to contribute to borderless Europe - gradual abolition of border checks, which allows vehicles and citizens  to cross without stopping on fixed checkpoints (as described in Articles 2,6 and 7). It currently includes 25 states. Yes, correct, the ones excluded are Romania and Bulgaria.

Further government budget cuts in the Netherlands

 In the Netherlands the government has just announced to look for further austerity measures as the state’s fiscal position is still below the EMU’s rules. The last few governments have been cutting well over 20 billion euros now without any positive outcomes; there are only further economic declines announced.

Accountability to the public by government officials?  In the Netherlands the government has just announced to look for further austerity measures as the state’s fiscal position is still below the EMU’s rules. The last few governments have been cutting well over 20 billion euros now without any positive outcomes; there are only further economic declines announced.