The Netherlands: Tulip farmers in Netherlands spell out messages of support with flowers-by lsea Ritschel

Tulip farmers in the Netherlands are using their famous flower beds to share supportive messages as the coronavirus pandemic continues.

In posts shared to social media, Dutch farmers, who have closed their farms to tourists this year in accordance with social distancing guidelines, have shared a photo of their flowers spelling out the message “see you next year”.

“Due to Covid-19 travel plans have changed,” flower blog Tulips in Holland captioned a photo of the blooms. “Many of you were planning to travel to The Netherlands to see the flower fields in bloom. Unfortunately this isn’t possible this year. And many of you won’t see the flower field in full bloom.

“This week Dutch Daffodils and the Tulips in Holland family teamed up to create something for all people who [were] supposed to travel to The Netherlands. You may miss The Netherlands, but we miss you too!”

According to the blog, which describes itself as a national guide to the tulips of the Netherlands, the farmers decided to use the flower beds to spread some cheer.

Read more at: Tulip farmers in Netherlands spell out messages of support with flowers | The Independent

Resumption of Travel : When and how: Post-coronavirus travel in the EU is up in the air

Once the coronavirus pandemic tapers off, people are likely to take vacations closer to home. EU tourism ministers have no timetable for revitalizing travel. Bernd Riegert reports from Brussels.

Read more at:
https://www.dw.com/en/when-and-how-post-coronavirus-travel-in-the-eu-is-up-in-the-air/a-53273416

The Netherlands: VodafoneZiggo launches 5G coverage in the Netherlands

Dutch telecom provider VodafoneZiggo will make 5G services available in large parts of the Netherlands on Tuesday, making it the first carrier to offer the technology in the country.

Read more at:
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-netherlands-telecom-5g/vodafoneziggo-launches-5g-coverage-in-the-netherlands-idUSKCN22A0OQ

Meteorologists say 2020 on course to be hottest year since records began

This year is on course to be the world’s hottest since measurements began, according to meteorologists, who estimate there is a 50% to 75% chance that 2020 will break the record set four years ago.

Read more at:
Meteorologists say 2020 on course to be hottest

The Netherlands: Coronavirus expected to hand Netherlands worst-ever budget deficit

The Ministry of Finance is projecting a 92-billion euro budget deficit for 2020 in part because of all emergency measures the government is implementing to cushion the blow caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The country's debt level is likely to rise to levels higher than what is permitted by the European Union, according Wopke Hoekstra, the country's finance minister.

The budget deficit will be approximately 11.8 percent of gross domestic product, Hoekstra wrote in an annual memorandum. The country has not run an annual deficit that high in at least 25 years, according to data from Statistics Netherlands dating back to 1999.

"The year is not yet half over, yet the 2020 budget has already been thoroughly adjusted due to the coronavirus. We know one thing for sure: significant changes will follow this year," the ministry said.

European Union member states are required to cap their annual budget deficit to three percent of GDP. Public debt must not exeed 60 percent of GDP, a rule which the Cabinet said is being suspended in light of "the exceptional circumstances."

At the current projections, the Netherlands could see public debt soar to 65.2 percent of GDP. At the end of 2019, the country carried 395 billion euros in debt.

Coronavirus caused a shocking financial twist for the Netherlands, which ran a 1.7 percent surplus last year equivalent to 14.1 billion euros, according to Statistics Netherlands. It had posted a surplus for four straight years.

Even during the most recent financial crisis, which started in 2008, the budget deficit never went beyond 5.2 percent.

"The cabinet expects a significant economic contraction, can count on significantly lower tax revenues, and is also spending a significant amount of money on support measures," the ministry wrote.

But with many individuals and businesses allowed to postpone various taxes in 2020, the government will need to borrow up to 65 billion euros just to cover spending through the second quarter, which ends in May. Deferred tax payments are likely to total between 35 and 45 billion euros.

"The corona virus deeply affects the lives of all Dutch people. In the first place because people get sick or lose a loved one. But also because people are affected in their work, because there are no more orders coming in, they no longer have work for their staff or are not sure whether they can keep their jobs," the ministry said.

Read more Coronavirus expected to hand Netherlands worst-ever budget deficit | NL Times

The Netherlands to immigrants: Speak Dutch - by Patrick Cox

In Hassnae Bouazza's memory, learning to speak Dutch happened very suddenly.

“I remember very vividly the moment that I realized that I had learned Dutch,” Bouazza said. “I was playing with children at kindergarten. All of sudden realized, I speak Dutch.”

Bouazza, now in her 40s, is the youngest of seven siblings. Her family moved to the Netherlands from Morocco in the 1970s after her father left Morocco to seek work in Europe. In 1977, the rest of the family joined him and settled in a Dutch village — the only immigrants to live there.

This Moroccan family might have been called model immigrants, if the Dutch government had a model in mind. As Dutch speakers, the family was different from the vast majority of immigrants who moved to Dutch cities, but remained largely separated from Dutch society.

“Nothing was done to integrate them in the society,” said Ricky van Oers, an immigration law professor at Radboud University in Nijmegen. “The authorities thought too easily of asking someone to come over to work, stay for 20 years and then go back.”

Large-scale migration from Morocco to the Netherlands started in the 1960s under a guest worker program largely geared toward temporary work for men. But many immigrants decided to stay, and in the 1970s, family reunification law allowed guest laborers to bring their families to join them.

When Dutch officials realized that families from Morocco and elsewhere weren’t returning to their homelands, they tried to get them to learn Dutch. When that only partially worked — it was too late for many — attitudes hardened.

Anti-immigrant sentiment increased around Sept. 11, 2001, when a series of anti-immigrant political parties started winning seats in Dutch elections. Today, the leader of that faction is Geert Wilders.

“There is a lot of Moroccan scum in Holland who make the streets unsafe,” Wilders told reporters during the 2017 election campaign in which his party came in second.

Wilders and his followers have pushed exclusionary language laws for immigrants. That message is gaining popularity: The Dutch government requires people who want long-term work permits to take private Dutch classes and pass a language proficiency exam.

“If they don't pass this exam within three years, they are fined,” Radboud University’s Van Oers said.

“The Netherlands can be perceived as sort of a guiding country. It is very proud to have taken up that role. And you see that different European countries have copied the Dutch model.”

Those efforts are also inspiring the Trump administration. In May 2019, the White House proposed an overhaul of US immigration law that would include language proficiency regulations.

“Future immigrants will be required to learn English and to pass a civics exam prior to admission,” President Donald Trump told reporters at the Rose Garden announcement. Currently, there is no indication that Congress would pass such a measure.

Read more at: The Netherlands to immigrants: Speak Dutch | Public Radio International

Global politics: A pandemic of power grabs - Autocrats see opportunity in disaster

The world is distracted and the public need saving. It is a strongman’s dream

Read more at:
https://www.economist.com/leaders/2020/04/23/autocrats-see-opportunity-in-disaster?fsrc=newsletter&utm_campaign=the-economist-today&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_source=salesforce-marketing-cloud&utm_term=2020-04-24&utm_content=article-link-1