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| Migrant workers feel unwelcome in the Netherlands |
9/2/2012 |
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Friday 31 August 2012
Around 40% of Poles questioned in research among eastern Europeans say their image of the Netherlands has changed since the introduction of a hotline to report problems caused by migrant workers.
Staffing agency Otto Workforce questioned 9,000 eastern Europeans, just 27% of whom said they still felt welcome in the Netherlands, far fewer than for other EU countries, reports the Financieele Dagblad.
The Polish embassy in The Hague is unsurprised. ''The image of the Netherlands in Poland has been badly dented,'' Janusz Wolosz told the FD.
Since the beginning of 2012, the embassy has received forty telephone calls asking if the country is still safe for Poles. ''Poles think twice about coming here and are worried,'' Wolosz said.
No signs
The staffing agency association ABU says there are no signs that migrant workers are turning their backs on the Netherlands. ''Unemployment is rising in eastern Europe and Dutch companies have been employing people from the area for much longer than, say, Germany,'' the ABU''s Jochem de Boer told the FD.
De Boer did warn against the call line, the ''firm language'' used by the government and comments about a ''tsunami of Poles''.
Just 1% of respondents said the Netherlands is their first choice to go for work. Germany scored 13%, England 11% and Norway 6%.
Stigmatising
''The government should stop stigmatising eastern Europeans,'' Frank van Gool of Otto Workforce told the FD. ''The Dutch are getting older and we will need them in the future,'' he said. ''Research shows that migrant workers contribute €1.8bn to our economic growth and €1.2bn in tax.''
A government spokesman told the paper she expects the number of migrant workers from eastern Europe to increase, especially when borders are opened to Romania and Bulgaria in 2014. ''We still think Dutch people on benefits should be doing their work and we shall continue our firm policy on any nuisance they cause.''
There are 300,000 eastern Europeans currently working in the Netherlands.
© DutchNews.nl
Fall in household spending slows
Thursday 30 August 2012
Household spending fell 0.6% in June compared with the year-earlier period, but the fall was noticeably less severe than in the earlier months of this year, the central statistics agency CBS said on Thursday.
Much of the slowdown can be attributed to more people buying a car ahead of a tax increase introduced on July 1. Extra money was also spent on consumer electronics, the CBS said.
Less money is still being spent on clothing, furniture and household items.
No clear signs, no speed checks
Friday 31 August 2012
There will be no speed checks on the latest batch of roads where the limit is being raised to 130 kph because the signs indicating the new speed limit have not yet been put in place, the Telegraaf reports on Friday.
A number of roads are having their speed limit raised on Saturday but without the correct signs the police cannot check whether motorists are breaking the limit, the paper says.
The rules say signs must be placed every 100 metres on either side of the road. However, the old signs have not been replaced at several locations.
''We cannot book people for breaking the speed limit if that limit is not clearly shown,'' a spokesman told the Telegraaf.
Child porn found on priest''s computer
Friday 31 August 2012
What is described as a ''small amount'' of child pornography has been found on the computer of a 50-year-old priest from Veldhoven, RTL news reported on Friday.
The man is not under arrest but has not been at work for several months while the investigation is carried out. The pornography is not self-made, RTL said.
The public prosecution department is now deciding whether the man should face charges.
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