The Queen has accepted the resignations of the Labour Party (PvdA) ministers and state secretaries and has asked the caretaker government to help ensure that the House of Representatives is dissolved soon so that a general election can be held on 9 June 2010.
The Netherlands is fully behind the service personnel, diplomats and development staff who are doing such difficult work in Uruzgan. This message was conveyed by Minister of Foreign Affairs Maxime Verhagen in a telephone conversation with the most senior Dutch diplomat in the Afghan province, Civil Representative Jennes de Mol.
Yesterday, Minister of Foreign Affairs Maxime Verhagen had telephone talks with members of the Afghan government and the Netherlands’ allies in the southern part of Afghanistan. He spoke with colleagues from several countries, including Australia, Germany, Denmark and Slovakia, about the situation arising from the Netherlands’ inability to take a decision about further involvement in Afghanistan after this August.
15 Jan 2009 | Culture minister Ronald Plasterk and European affairs minister Frans Timmermans are determined to put Dutch art and culture on the map. In their letter to the House of Representatives entitled ‘Art without Borders’, they describe art and culture policy up to 2012.