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Wageningen - The annual Liberty Parade marking Liberation Day in 1945 has been held in the Dutch town of Wageningen. Around 1,300 veterans, including 200 from World War II, filed through the city centre. Some 100,000 spectators lined the streets despite the high temperatures. At a ceremony early in the afternoon Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende kicked off 13 liberation festivals across the country. The festivities will end with an outdoor concert on the river Amstel in the capital which will be attended by Queen Beatrix.

Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders released a film critical of Islam on Thursday, setting verses of the Koran against a background of images from terrorist attacks. The 15-minute film was posted on a Web site. Shortly afterward Dutch television channels rebroadcast segments of it. The Dutch government had warned Wilders the film could spark violent protests in Islamic countries, like those two years ago after the publication of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. "The film equates Islam with violence. We reject this," Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende said in a televised reaction. "We...regret that Mr. Wilders has released this film. We...

At a public administration congress, Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende has said that Europe does not need a constitution, but rather a new, simpler, treaty supplementing existing agreements. The prime minister's remarks were aimed directly at European Commission chairman José Manuel Barroso, who is visiting the Netherlands. Earlier this week, Mr Barroso said the Netherlands should quickly find a solution to the impasse created when the Dutch people in a referendum rejected the European constitution. Mr Barroso did express his appreciation for the passages regarding the European Union in the coalition agreement presented today. Mr Balkenende said he first...

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Belgium apologised to the Dutch prime minister on Monday after its foreign minister compared him to Harry Potter, the boy wizard of children's literature. Following the outrage caused by the remark over the weekend, Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt called Dutch leader Jan Peter Balkenende to apologise. Verhofstadt later released a joint statement with Balkenende, saying they had agreed to put the matter behind them and focus on the "major challenges" facing the European Union. Foreign Minister Karel De Gucht described Balkenende as "a mix between Harry Potter and a brave rigid bourgeois" in an interview published...

Dutch Center-Right Coalition Stands up to Islamism By Andrew L. Jaffee, July 22, 2004 Home   Search   Forum   Terms Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende and his center-right coalition are standing up to Islamism, the true enemy of all civilized nations in the 21st century. Balkenende said Muslim groups “were sowing hatred, and [he] promised new anti-terror measures” in a speech to the European Parliament yesterday. On February 18 of this year, Dutch lawmakers promised to expel approximately 26,000 asylum seekers after digesting a parliamentary report which concluded … that the country's 30-year experiment in tolerant multiculturalism had been a failure, and has...

<p>Jan Peter Balkenende, whose government is scheduled to assume the rotating presidency of the European Union later this year, said, "We need solidarity as far as the struggle against terrorism is concerned. We need unity."</p> <p>A day after voters in Spain ousted the ruling party that strongly backed the U.S.-led war in Iraq, Balkenende said more cooperation between Europe and the United States -- not less -- is necessary to defeat alQaeda, which is suspected of mounting the deadly attacks in Madrid last week.</p>

DUTCH Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende arrived in Iraq today on a surprise visit to Dutch troops stationed there, the Netherlands Government Information Service (RVD) told AFP. "He has arrived and will pay a visit to the soldiers," RVD spokesman Gerard van der Wulp said. The visit was not announced earlier for security reasons. The Dutch have 1200 troops in southern Iraq as part of the US-led multinational force. The snap visit is intended to boost morale among Dutch troops. "We want to show the soldiers that we are thinking of them and that the Netherlands feels their work in...

Dutch prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende and foreign minister Jaap de Hoop Scheffer are on a working visit to the United States. They will hold talks with US Vice-President Dick Cheney about the ongoing problems with restoring order in Iraq. Mr De Hoop Scheffer is expected to argue for a more prominent role for the United Nations. Tomorrow the Dutch ministers will have breakfast with President George W Bush. Mr Balkenende and Mr De Hoop Scheffer will also lay a wreath at Arlington national cemetery.

Chirac's Brit deaths snub FRENCH President Jacques Chirac delivered a nasty snub to Prime Minister Tony Blair at this morning's EU summit in Brussels. While other European leaders expressed personal condolences to the PM over the deaths of eight Britons in last night's helicopter crash in Kuwait - Chirac was conspicuous by his absence. German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, Irish premier Bertie Ahern and Spain's Jose Marie Aznar went over to Mr Blair at the start of the second day of the summit. Italy's Silvio Berlusconi, Dutch leader Jan-Peter Balkenende, and Denmark's Anders Fogh Rassmussen did the same. "They all offered...

In a statement, Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende today expressed his support for the US-led attack against the Iraqi regime. He pointed out that for the past twelve years the international community has tried to force Saddam Hussein to disarm. This approach has proved to be a failure. The issue of Iraq has caused major problems in the talks aimed at creating a new coaltion government between Mr Balkenende's Christian Democratic party and the Dutch Labour Party. However, now that the war has actually begun, Labour has decided to back the allied coalition against Iraq. Mr Balkenende has welcomed...