1.
States General of the Netherlands
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The States General is the bicameral legislature of the Netherlands, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The parliament meets at the Binnenhof in The Hague, the States General originated in the 15th century as an assembly of all the provincial states of the Burgundian Netherlands. The States General were replaced by the National Assembly after the Batavian Revolution of 1795, only to be restored in 1814, the States General was divided into a Senate and a House of Representatives in 1815, with the establishment of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands. On exceptional occasions, the two form a joint session known as the United Assembly. The President of the Senate serves as President of the States General during a United Assembly, ankie Broekers-Knol has been President of the Senate since 2013. The archaic Dutch word staten originally related to the classes in which medieval European societies were stratified, the clergy, the nobility. The word eventually came to mean the political body in which the estates were represented. Each province in the Habsburg Netherlands had its own staten and these representative bodies in turn were represented in the assembly that came to be known as Staten-Generaal, or Algemene Staten. The English word states may have a meaning as the Dutch word staten. The English phrases States General is probably a translation of the Dutch word. Historically, the term was used for the name of other national legislatures as, for example, the Catalan and Valencian Generalitat. Several geographic place names are derived from the States General, in 1609, Henry Hudson established Dutch trade in Staten Island, New York City and named the island Staaten Eylandt after the States General. Isla de los Estados, now an Argentine island, was named after this institution. Abel Tasman originally gave the name Staten Landt to what would become New Zealand, Staaten River is a river in the Cape York Peninsula, Australia. Later, regular sessions were held at Coudenberg in Brussels, Brabant, the next important event was the convocation of the States General by the ducal Council for 3 February 1477 after the death of Charles the Bold. In this session the States General forced the grant of the Great Privilege by Mary of Burgundy in which the right of the States General to convene on their own initiative was recognised, in 1576 the States General as a whole, however, openly rebelled against the Spanish crown. In 1579 the States General split as a number of provinces, united in the Union of Arras returned to obedience, while other provinces. After the Act of Abjuration in 1581 the northern States General replaced Philip II as the authority of the northern Netherlands
2.
Upper house
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An upper house, sometimes called a Senate, is one of two chambers of a bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the lower house. The house formally designated as the house is usually smaller. Examples of upper houses in countries include the UKs House of Lords, Canadas Senate, Indias Rajya Sabha, Russias Federation Council, Irelands Seanad, Germanys Bundesrat, a legislature composed of only one house is described as unicameral. An upper house is different from the lower house in at least one of the following respects, Powers, In a parliamentary system. Therefore, in countries the Upper House votes on only limited legislative matters. Cannot vote a motion of no confidence against the government, while the house always can. In a presidential system, It may have equal or nearly equal power with the lower house and it may have specific powers not granted to the lower house. For example, It may give advice and consent to some executive decisions and it may have the sole power to try impeachments against officials of the executive, following enabling resolutions passed by the lower house. Status, In some countries, its members are not popularly elected, membership may be indirect and its members may be elected with a different voting system than that used to elect the lower house. Less populated states, provinces, or administrative divisions may be represented in the upper house than in the lower house. Members terms may be longer than in the house. Members may be elected in portions, for staggered terms, rather than all at one time, in some countries, the upper house cannot be dissolved at all, or can be dissolved only in more limited circumstances than the lower house. It typically has fewer members or seats than the lower house and it has usually a higher age of candidacy than the lower house. In parliamentary systems the upper house is seen as an advisory or revising chamber. Some or all of the restrictions are often placed on upper houses. No absolute veto of proposed legislation, though suspensive vetoes are permitted in some states, in countries where it can veto legislation, it may not be able to amend the proposals. A reduced or even absent role in initiating legislation, additionally, a Government must have the consent of both to remain in office, a position which is known as perfect bicameralism or equal bicameralism. An example is the British House of Lords, bills can only be delayed for up to one year before the Commons can use the Parliament Act, although economic bills can only be delayed for one month
3.
Ankie Broekers-Knol
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Anneke Ankie Broekers-Knol is a Dutch politician of the Peoples Party for Freedom and Democracy. She is the President of the Senate since 2 July 2013 and she used to be director of the Department of Moot Court and Advocacy of the Leiden University. She was also a member of the council of Bloemendaal. Broekers-Knol was chair of the Senate’s standing committee for Security and Justice, official Mr. A. Broekers-Knol Parlement & Politiek Mr. A. Broekers-Knol Eerste Kamer der Staten-Generaal
4.
People's Party for Freedom and Democracy
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The Peoples Party for Freedom and Democracy is a conservative-liberal political party in the Netherlands. The VVD, whose forerunner was the Freedom Party, supports private enterprise, Mark Rutte has been the partys leader since 31 May 2006 and the Prime Minister of the Netherlands since 14 October 2010. Therefore, an election was held in September 2012. The VVD remained the largest party, with 41 seats, from November 2012 until March 2017, the VVD was the senior partner in the Second Rutte cabinet, a purple coalition government with the Labour Party. The VVD was founded in 1948 as a continuation of the Freedom Party, which was a continuation of the interbellum Liberal State Party and they were joined by the Comité-Oud, a group of liberal members of the Labour Party, led by Pieter Oud. The liberals within the Labour Party were primarily members of the pre-war social-liberal Free-thinking Democratic League and they were unhappy with the social-democratic orientation of the Labour Party. Between 1948 and 1952 the VVD took part in the cabinets led by the Labour Party Prime Minister Willem Drees. The party was a partner with only eight seats to the Catholic Peoples Party and Labour Party. The partys leadership was in the hands of the respected former Labour Party member Oud, the Drees cabinet laid the foundation for the welfare state and decolonization of the Dutch East Indies. In the Dutch general election of 1952 the VVD gained one seat and this time they gained nineteen seats and the party entered government alongside the Protestant Anti Revolutionary Party, Christian Historical Union CHU and the Roman Catholic KVP. In 1963, Oud left politics, and was succeeded by the minister of Home Affairs Edzo Toxopeus, with the lead of Toxopeus VVD lost three seats in the 1963 elections, but remained in government. In 1966, frustrated with their hopeless efforts, LDC-members departed the VVD altogether, in 1965, there also occurred a conflict between VVD-ministers and their counterparts from KVP and ARP in Cabinet Marijnen. The cabinet fell and without elections it was replaced by the KVP-ARP-Labour Party cabinet under Cals, in the following 1967 elections the VVD remained relatively stable and entered yet again the cabinet under Prime Minister Piet de Jong. During this period the VVD had loose ties with other liberal organisations and this included the liberal papers Nieuwe Rotterdamsche Courant and the Algemeen Handelsblad, the broadcaster AVRO and the employers organisation VNO. In the Dutch general election of 1971 the VVD lost one seat, a cabinet was formed by the Christian-democratic parties, the VVD and the Labour Party offshoot Democratic Socialists 70. This cabinet fell after a few months, meanwhile, the charismatic young MP Hans Wiegel had attracted considerable attention. He became the new leader of the VVD, in 1971 he became the new Parliamentary group leader, with Wiegel the VVD oriented towards a new political course, reforming the welfare state, cutting taxes etc. Wiegel did not shrink from conflict with the Labour Party and the trade unions, with this new course came a new electorate, working class and middle-class voters, who because of individualization and depillarization were more easy to attract
5.
Labour Party (Netherlands)
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The Labour Party is a social-democratic political party in the Netherlands. The party was founded in 1946 as a merger of the Social Democratic Workers Party, the Free-thinking Democratic League, Prime Ministers from the Labour Party have been Willem Drees, Joop den Uyl, and Wim Kok. Since 2012, the PvdA is the partner in the Second Rutte cabinet with the Peoples Party for Freedom. Since 2016, Lodewijk Asscher has been Leader of the Labour Party, the party won 9 seats in the House of Representatives in the 2017 general election. The Labour Party is a member of the European Party of European Socialists, in the European Parliament, where the Labour Party has 3 seats, it is part of the parliamentary group Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats. They were joined by individuals from Catholic resistance group Christofoor and the Protestant parties Christian Historical Union, the founders of the PvdA wanted to create a broad party, breaking with the historic tradition of Pillarisation. This desire to come to a new system was called the Doorbraak. The party combined socialists with liberal democrats and progressive Christians, however, the party was unable to break Pillarisation. Instead the new party renewed the ties that SDAP had with other socialist organisations. In 1948 some conservative members, led by former VDB leader Pieter Oud, together with the Freedom Party, they formed the Peoples Party for Freedom and Democracy, a conservative-liberal party. Between 1946 and 1958, the PvdA formed coalition governments with the Catholic Peoples Party, the KVP and the PvdA together had a large majority in parliament. Since 1948, these cabinets were led by PvdA Prime Minister Willem Drees, under his leadership the Netherlands recovered from the war, began to build its welfare state and Indonesia became independent. After the cabinet crisis of 1958, the PvdA was replaced by the VVD, the PvdA was in opposition until 1965. The electoral support of PvdA voters began to decline, in 1965 a conflict in the KVP-ARP-CHU-VVD cabinet made continuation of the government impossible. The three confessional, Christian-influenced parties turned towards the PvdA, together they formed the Cals cabinet. This cabinet was also lived and conflict ridden. The conflicts culminated in the fall of the Cals cabinet over economic policy, meanwhile, a younger generation was attempting to gain control of the PvdA. A group of young PvdA members, calling themselves the New Left, prominent New Left members were Jan Nagel, André van der Louw and Bram Peper
6.
Christian Democratic Appeal
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The Christian Democratic Appeal is a Christian-democratic political party in the Netherlands. Sybrand van Haersma Buma has been the party leader since 18 May 2012, the party suffered severe losses in the 2010 general election, losing half of its seats and falling to fourth place in the House of Representatives. Subsequently, the CDA again lost a number of seats in the 2012 general election. Since 1880 the sizeable Catholic and Protestant parties had worked together in the so-called Coalitie and they shared a common interest in public funding of religious schools. In 1888 they formed the first Christian-democratic government, led by the Anti-Revolutionary Æneas Baron Mackay, the cooperation was not without problems and in 1894 the more anti-papist and aristocratic conservatives left the Protestant Anti Revolutionary Party, to found the Christian Historical Union. The main issues dividing Protestants and Catholics was the position of the Dutch Representation at the Holy See, the General League evolved into the Roman Catholic State Party by 1926, and the Catholic Peoples Party in 1945. From 1918 to 1967, the three Christian Democratic parties had a majority in both houses of the States General, and at least two of them were included in every cabinet, the KVP and its antecedents had been in government without interruption since 1918. In the sixties, the Dutch society became more secularized and the pillars faded, in 1963 general election the three parties held 51% of the vote, whilst in 1972 general election they held only 32%. This decline forced the three parties to work closer together, in 1967 the Group of Eighteen was formed, it was a think-tank of six prominent politicians per party that planned the future cooperation of the three parties. In 1968 the three leaders of the parties (Norbert Schmelzer, Barend Biesheuvel and Jur Mellema made a public appearance. This caused progressive forces within the three parties, especially the ARP and KVP, to regret their political affiliation, in 1968 they founded the Political Party of Radicals, a left-wing party that sought cooperation with the Labour Party. Locally and provincially however the three parties had long cooperated well, in areas they formed one Christian-democratic parliamentary party. In the 1971 general election, the three presented a common political program, which lay the foundation for the first Biesheuvel cabinet. After the disastrous elections of 1972 the cooperation was given new momentum, in 1973 this federation was officially formed, with Steenkamp as chairperson. The cooperation was frustrated by the formation of the Den Uyl cabinet, established by the leader of the social-democratic PvdA, Den Uyl refused to allow members of the CHU in the cabinet that he would lead. This led to a situation where the CHU, ARP and KVP sat as a faction in both houses of parliament, but only the KVP and ARP supplied ministers and junior ministers. The cabinet Den Uyl was riddled with political and personal conflicts, another issue that split the three parties was the place that the Bible would take in the new party. In 1976, the three announced that they would field a single list at the 1977 general election under the name Christian Democratic Appeal
7.
Democrats 66
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Democrats 66 is a social-liberal and progressive political party in the Netherlands. D66 was formed in 1966 by a group of politically unaligned young intellectuals, the partys main objective was to democratise the political system, it proposed to create an American-style presidential system. In the 1967 general election, the party won 7 of the 150 seats in the House of Representatives, the electoral history of the party is characterised by large fluctuations. At one point they had 24 seats, currently they have 19, the party was in government from 1973 to 1977,1981 to 1982,1994 to 2002 and 2003 to 2006. Over time the party began to other issues in addition to democratic reform. In addition to its nineteen seats in the House of Representatives, it holds ten in the Senate, the party leader and Parliamentary leader is Alexander Pechtold. The party has a number of elected local and provincial politicians and supplies a relatively large proportion of mayors. The partys voters are concentrated in cities, especially among people who hold a university degree. The organisation of D66 is based on principles of direct democracy, important decisions are made per referendum. D66 is a member of the Liberal International and the Alliance of Liberals, Democrats 66 was founded on 14 October 1966 by 44 people. Its founders were described as homines novi, although 25 of the 44 had previously been members of a political party, the initiators were Hans van Mierlo, a journalist for the Algemeen Handelsblad and Hans Gruijters, a municipal councillor in Amsterdam. Van Mierlo became the political leader and Gruijters the partys chair. The foundation of the party was preceded by the Appeal 1966 on October 10, the party renounced the 19th-century political ideologies, which dominated the political system and wanted to end pillarisation. It called for democratisation of the Dutch society and its political system. The party entered in the 1967 general election with Hans van Mierlo as their top candidate, the party won an unprecedented seven seats in parliament. In the 1971 general election the party won an additional four seats and it formed a Shadow Cabinet with the Labour Party, in the 1972 general election, the three parties formed a political alliance called the Progressive Accord and presented a common electoral program. In the elections D66 lost nearly half its seats, leaving only six, the alliance became the largest political force in the country, but it did not gain a majority. After long cabinet formation talks the three PAK-parties formed an extra-parliamentary cabinet joined by members of the Protestant Anti Revolutionary Party
8.
Christian Union (Netherlands)
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The Christian Union, abbreviated to CU, is a Christian democratic political party in the Netherlands. The party self-describes itself as social Christian, founded in 2000 as a merger of the Reformed Political Alliance and Reformatory Political Federation, the Christian Union has five seats in the House of Representatives and four in the Senate. After doubling its seats in the 2006 elections it became the smallest member of the fourth Balkenende cabinet, in some elections, it forms an alliance with the Calvinist Reformed Political Party, which, unlike the CU, is a testimonial party. The party seeks for government to uphold Christian morality, but supports freedom of religion under the doctrine of sphere sovereignty, the party is moderately Eurosceptic, it sits with the European Conservatives and Reformists group in the European Parliament. It is a member of the European Christian Political Movement, the Netherlands has a long tradition of small orthodox or conservative Protestant parties in parliament. The SGP did survive the war years, but the HGS was unable to obtain seats in the 1946 elections, in the 1981 election, the Reformatory Political Federation entered parliament. It had split from the ARP six years earlier over the formation of the Christian Democratic Appeal, the RPF explicitly stated in its manifesto of principles that it sought to unite all reformed parties in the Netherlands. However, the GPV and SGP were somewhat less receptive, the SGP had rejected cooperation with these parties because they had female members, the SGP consistently rejected female suffrage until 2006. The RPF, GPV and SGP were testimonial parties, which chose to voice their concerns about government policy, in 1984 however the three parties cooperated in the European elections and presented a common list in order to enter the European Parliament. In the 1989 general election they formed an alliance in order to enhance their chances of obtaining seats. In 1995 informal talks were opened between the three parties, the GPV had opened itself to non-liberated members, but the SGP not to women. The discussions with the SGP were broken off and the GPV, from 1998 the two parliamentary parties cooperated with each other, held common meetings and appointed common spokespersons. In 1999 a group called Transformatie was set up by people from both parties in reaction to the slow cooperation process, they tried to intensify the debate about cooperation. In the same year the cooperation talks were formalized and intensified, the Christian Union was founded in January 2000 as an alliance between the RPF and GPV. In 2000 their youth organizations, GPJC and RPFJ, fused completely, in 2001 they formed a common parliamentary party in both the House of Representatives and Senate. In 2002 the alliance entered the elections for the first time, the party got four seats - one seat less than the 1998 election when they campaigned separately. It had polled better, with some polling stations predicting seven or eight seats. The partys leader Kars Veling stepped down and he had been good at keeping the peace internally in a party still somewhat divided along the old GPV and RPF blood lines, but had not appealed well enough to the population at large
9.
Party for Freedom
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The Party for Freedom is a Dutch nationalist and right-wing populist political party in the Netherlands. Founded in 2006 as the successor to Geert Wilders one-man party in the House of Representatives, in the 2010 general election it won 24 seats, making it the third-largest party. At that time the PVV agreed to support the minority government led by Prime Minister Mark Rutte without having ministers in the cabinet, however the PVV withdrew its support in April 2012 due to differences over budget cuts at the Catshuis. It came third in the 2014 European Parliament election, winning four out of 26 seats, in the 2017 election, the Party for Freedom won 20 seats, making it the second-largest party in the House of Representatives. The PVV has also proposed banning the Quran and shutting down all mosques in the Netherlands, Party for Freedom is an association with Geert Wilders as its sole member. The party is ineligible for Dutch government funding and relies on donations, the partys history began with Geert Wilders departure from the VVD in September 2004. Wilders could not accept the VVDs positive stance towards Turkeys possible accession to the European Union, although the VVD expected Wilders to return his parliamentary seat to the party, he refused, and continued to sit in parliament as a one-man party, Groep Wilders. In June 2005 Wilders was one of the leaders in the campaign against the European Constitution, Spruyt left the party in the summer of 2006 after it proved unable to build broad conservative backing, and people like Joost Eerdmans and Marco Pastors proved unwilling to join. Later, Spruyt commented that the PVV had a tendency toward fascism. He later qualified the statement, though he didnt withdraw it, former PVV candidate Lucas Hartong called Spruyts claims a cheap insinuation. On 10 January 2007 the PVV announced it would not field candidates at the forthcoming Provincial elections and this meant it would be unrepresented in the Senate. Former trade union leader and prominent Christian Democrat Doekle Terpstra proposed an initiative against Geert Wilders, Terpstra sees Wilders as promoting intolerance, and discrimination against Muslims. He is supported in his cause by the large Dutch trade unions, politicians and the public are divided on Terpstras initiative. The newspaper De Pers reported the day that much of Terpstras support did not actualize. The film attempts to demonstrate that the Quran motivates its followers to hate all who violate Islamic teachings, consequently, the film argues that Islam encourages acts of terrorism, antisemitism, violence against women and homosexuals, and Islamic universalism. A large part of the deals with the influence of Islam on the Netherlands. The films title, the Arabic word fitna, means either disagreement, Wilders described the film as a call to shake off the creeping tyranny of Islamization. Polling by Maurice de Hond published in March 2009 indicated that the PVV was the most popular parliamentary party, the polls predicted that the party would take 21 per cent of the national vote, giving it 32 out of 150 seats in the Dutch parliament
10.
Socialist Party (Netherlands)
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The Socialist Party is a left-wing, social-democratic political party in the Netherlands. After the 2006 general election, the Socialist Party became one of the parties of the Netherlands with 25 seats of 150. In the 2010 general election the party obtained 15 seats, in the 2012 general election they maintained those 15 seats. The party is in opposition since it was formed, the Socialist Party was founded in October 1971 as a Maoist party named the Communist Party of the Netherlands/Marxist–Leninist. This KPN/ML was formed following a split from the Communist Unity Movement of the Netherlands, the issue that provoked the split from KEN was an intense debate on the role of intellectuals in the class struggle. The founders of KPN/ML, with Daan Monjé in a prominent role, belonged to the Proletarian wing of the KEN, in 1972 KPN/ML changed its name to Socialistiese Partij. The SP started to build a network of local parties, with local roots. The SP had its own General Practitioners offices, provided advice to citizens and this developed within front organisations, for instance separate trade unions, environmental organizations and tenant associations. This work resulted in a representation in several municipal legislatures. Also in some States-Provincial the SP gained a foothhold, especially in the province of North Brabant, since 1977 SP attempted to enter the House of Representatives. The party failed in 1977,1981,1982,1986 and 1989, in 1991, the party officially scrapped the term Marxism–Leninism, because the party had evolved to the point that the term was no longer considered appropriate. In 1994 general election the partys first members of parliament, Remi Poppe, in the 1990s, the major party of the Dutch left, the Labour Party, moved to the centre, thus making the SP and GreenLeft viable alternatives for some left-wing voters. In the 1998 general election, the party was rewarded for its opposition to the Purple government of the first Kok cabinet, in the 1999 European elections, Erik Meijer was elected into the European Parliament for the SP. In the 2002 general election the SP ran with the slogan was Vote in Favor, the party nearly doubled to nine seats. This result was kept in the 2003 general election, leading up to the 2003 elections, the SP was predicted to win as many as 24 seats in the polls. These gains failed to materialise however, as many potential SP voters chose to cast strategic votes for the Labour Party, in the 2004 European elections its one seat was doubled to two. In the 2005 referendum on the European Constitution, the SP was the only left-wing party in parliament to oppose it, support for the party grew in opinion polls but fell slightly after the referendum. The municipal elections of 2006 were a success for the SP, in a reaction to these results, Marijnissen declared on election night that the SP has grown up
11.
GroenLinks
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GroenLinks is a Dutch political party of green progressive bent. After disappointing results in the 1989 and 1994 general elections, the nascent party fared well in the elections that took place between 1994 and 2002. GroenLinks describes itself as green, social and tolerant, the party is represented by 14 seats in the House, five in the Senate and two in the European Parliament. The last party leader, and chair of the party in the House of Representatives, was Jolande Sap. The party is in opposition against the governing Rutte cabinet, the party has over 100 local councillors and it participates in the government of sixteen of the twenty largest municipalities in the Netherlands. The partys voters are concentrated in cities, especially those with a university. The party has 21,901 members which are organised in over 250 municipal branches, the party congress is open to all members. It is a member of the Global Greens and the European Green Party, the partys number of seats fell from 10 to 4 seats in the 2012 election, before increasing to 14 in the 2017 election. GreenLeft was founded in 1989 as merger of four parties that were to the left of the Labour Party and these four parties were frequently classified as small left, to indicate their marginal existence. In the 1972 general election these parties won sixteen seats, in the 1977 general election won only six. From that moment on, members and voters began to argue for close cooperation, from the 1980s onwards the four parties started to cooperate in municipal and provincial elections. As fewer seats are available in these representations a higher percentage of votes is required to gain a seat, in 1984 European election the PPR, CPN and PSP formed the Green Progressive Accord that entered as one into the European elections. They gained one seat, which rotated between the PSP and PPR, party-members of the four parties also encountered each other in grassroots extraparliamentary protest against nuclear energy and nuclear weapons. During its period in parliament 1982–1986 it had trouble positioning itself between the left parties, the PvdA and the CDA. The increasingly close cooperation between PPR, PSP, CPN and EVP, and the change that accompanied it was not without internal dissent within the parties. The ideological change that CPN made from official communism to reformism led to a split in the CPN, in 1983, a group of deep Greens split from the PPR, to found The Greens. The CPN and the PPR wanted to form an alliance with the PSP for the 1986 elections. This led to a crisis within the PSP, in which chair of the parliamentary party Fred van der Spek, who opposed cooperation, was replaced by Andrée van Es, Van der Spek left the PSP to found his own Party for Socialism and Disarmament
12.
Party for the Animals
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The Party for the Animals is a political party in the Netherlands. Among its main goals are animal rights and animal welfare, though it not to be a single-issue party. The party does consider itself to be a party, which does not seek to gain political power. Its chairwoman and political leader is Marianne Thieme, in the House of Representatives the Party for the Animals holds 5 of the 150 seats. In the Senate it holds 2 of the 75 seats, in the House of Representatives Marianne Thieme and Esther Ouwehand represent the PvdD since November 30,2006 already. In the Senate Niko Koffeman and Christine Teunissen represent it, the first mentioned since June 12,2007, in the 2014 European Parliament elections, the party gained one seat, its held by Anja Hazekamp. The Party for the Animals was founded on 28 October 2002 by Marianne Thieme, in the Dutch general election of 2003 it gained 50,000 votes, but not a seat in the House of Representatives. In the 2004 European Parliament election the party gained 153,000 votes, still the number of votes was not enough to obtain a seat in the European Parliament. During the 2006 parliamentary elections it gained 179,988 votes, in the run-up to these elections the party was supported by several Dutch celebrities, such as writers Maarten t Hart and Jan Wolkers. In its first municipal elections in 2010, the party gained one seat in each of the five places where it participated. In its third parliamentary elections, on June 9,2010, in the 2012 general elections the party got 182,162 votes, an increase of 45%, but with just under 2% of the popular vote this did not secure a third seat in the House of Representatives. In the March 2017 general elections 3 more seats were gained, the PvdD is the first political party in the world to gain parliamentary seats with an agenda focused primarily on animal rights. The Party for Animals welcomed its 10, 000th member in late 2009
13.
Reformed Political Party
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The Reformed Political Party is an orthodox Calvinist political party in the Netherlands. The term Reformed is not a reference to political reform, but is a synonym for Calvinism—a major branch of Protestantism, the SGP is the oldest political party in the Netherlands in its current form, and has for its entire existence been in opposition. The party has, owing to its orthodox political ideals and its role in the opposition. The party has traditionally opposed universal suffrage, seeking to replace this with a form of organic suffrage restricted to heads of households. The SGP was founded on 24 April 1918, by conservative members of the Protestant Anti Revolutionary Party. They did not support female suffrage, which the ARP had made possible, furthermore, they were against the alliance the ARP had formed with the General League of Roman Catholic Caucuses. The party entered the 1918 general elections, but was unable to win any seats, the leading figure in the partys foundation was Yerseke pastor Gerrit Hendrik Kersten. In the 1922 election the party entered Parliament when Kersten won a seat in the House of Representatives. In this period the SGP became most noted for proposing, during the parliamentary debate on the budget of the Foreign Affairs Ministry. Each year the Protestant Christian Historical Union also voted in favor of this motion, the CHU was in cabinet with the Catholic General League, but many of its members and supporters still had strong feelings against the Catholic Church. In 1925 the left-wing opposition also voted in favor of the motion and they were indifferent to the representation at the Holy See, but saw this as a possibility to divide the confessional cabinet. And indeed the cabinet fell over this issue, in what is known as the Nacht van Kersten, in the 1925 elections, the party gained another seat, and in the 1929 election a third seat. It stayed at three seats in the 1933 elections, but lost a seat in the 1937 elections, in which the ARP led by prime minister Hendrikus Colijn performed particularly well. During World War II, Kersten cooperated with the German occupiers to allow his paper and he also condemned the Dutch Resistance, saying the German invasion was divine retribution for desecrating the Lords Day. After the war, he was branded a collaborator and permanently stripped of his seat in the House of Representatives, Kersten was succeeded by Pieter Zandt, under whose leadership the SGP was very stable, continually getting 2% of votes. In the 1956 election, the SGP profited from the enlargement of Parliament and it lost that seat in 1960, but regained it in 1971. In 1961 Zandt died and was succeeded by Cor van Dis sr, after ten years he stood down in favour of Reverend Hette Abma, who also stepped down after ten years, in favour of Henk van Rossum, a civil engineer. In the 1984 European Parliament election, the SGP joined the two other orthodox Protestant parties and they won one seat in the European Parliament, which was taken by SGP member Leen van der Waal, a mechanical engineer
14.
50PLUS
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The 50PLUS, abbreviated to 50+, is a pensioners interests political party in the Netherlands. The party was founded in 2009 by Maurice Koopman, Alexander Münninghoff, and Jan Nagel, henk Krol is the Leader since 2016. The party first participated in elections during the Dutch provincial elections of 2011, during these elections the party obtained 9 seats in the States-Provincial. In the Dutch Senate election of 2011 the members of the States-Provincial elected the members of the new Senate, during these elections, the party won one seat in the Senate. During the Dutch general election of 2012 the party obtained 2 seats
15.
Independent Senate Group
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The Independent Senate Group is a parliamentary party in the Dutch Senate with one senator, representing several provincial parties. The Dutch Senate is elected by the legislatures of the provinces, in 1995, several provincial parties and The Greens proposed their own list. Marten Bierman nominated by The Greens and second on the list was elected senator by a preference vote, in 2003, Henk ten Hoeve became senator for the OSF. He had been member of the Friesland provincial legislature for the Frisian National Party and he remained senator and leader of the party until 2011, when his role was taken over by Kees de Lange. In 2015, Henk ten Hoeve became again senator, the main parties involved are the Frisian National Party, the Party for the North, the Party New Limburg and the Brabant Party. The Greens lost their seats in 2003
16.
Party-list proportional representation
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They can also be used as part of mixed additional member systems. In these systems, parties make lists of candidates to be elected, voters in Luxembourgs multi-seat constituencies can choose between voting for a complete list of candidates of a single party or voting for individual candidates from one or several lists. The order in which a partys list candidates get elected may be pre-determined by some method internal to the party or the candidates or it may be determined by the voters at large or by districts, many variations on seat allocation within party-list proportional representation exist. The largest remainder methods, including the Hamilton method, list proportional representation may also be combined in various hybrids, e. g. using the additional member system. More, in countries the electoral system works on two levels, at-large for parties, and in constituencies for candidates, with local party-lists seen as fractions of general, national lists. In this case, magnitude of local constituencies is irrelevant, seat apportionment being calculated at national level, in France, party lists in proportional elections must include as many candidates as there are seats to be allocated, whereas in other countries incomplete lists are allowed
17.
Binnenhof
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The Binnenhof is a complex of buildings in the city centre of The Hague, next to the Hofvijver lake. It houses the place of both houses of the States General of the Netherlands, as well as the Ministry of General Affairs. Built primarily in the 13th century, the Gothic castle originally functioned as residence of the counts of Holland and it is counted among the Top 100 Dutch heritage sites. The Binnenhof is the oldest House of Parliament in the still in use. Little is known about the origin of the Binnenhof, presumably, the grounds next to the Hofvijver lake, and the small homestead on it, were purchased by Count Floris IV of Holland from Meiland van Wassenaar in November 1229. Between 1230 and 1234 he had the homestead expanded to a small keep, after Floris son and successor William II was crowned King of the Romans in 1248, this construction continued. Between 1248 and 1280, William had the Ridderzaal built, to its left and right, walls were built, which divided the area in front of the building from that behind it. At the end of the wall on the left, near the Hofvijver, the chapel was built. William died in battle in 1256, before the construction of the Ridderzaal had finished, the Binnenhof was the residence of the counts of Holland for a short period. After the house of Holland died out in 1299, the county fell in the hands of the counts of Hainaut, the counts of Hainaut barely resided in the Binnenhof in the early 14th century. Duke Albert I of Bavaria and his successor William II lived in the Binnenhof virtually permanently, under their reign, the castle saw a sizeable expansion, and gradually became enclosed by buildings. When Holland had become part of the Burgundian Empire in 1432, part of the complex was later made into the residence of the stadtholder of Holland, who governed the county in absence of its ruler. After Philip II was deposed as Count of Holland and the Dutch Republic was proclaimed in 1581, in 1584, stadtholder Maurice moved into the stadtholders quarter, and in the same year, the Ridderzaal became the meeting place of the newly formed States General of the Dutch Republic. Between 1806 and 1810, under French rule, the centre of the Netherlands was moved to Amsterdam. When the Netherlands gained independence from France, however, the government moved back to the Binnenhof, the local residents, however, cared more for the historic value of the building, and successfully protested against demolition. Originally built as a ballroom, the Gothic Ridderzaal today forms the centre of the Binnenhof, every third Tuesday of September, on Prinsjesdag, this is where the King holds his annual Speech from the Throne. Other buildings shape a rectangle around the Ridderzaal, creating a courtyard in front of the building. A gilt Neo-Gothic fountain adorns the courtyard and a statue of King William II, one of few Dutch equestrian statues, guards its gate, the Stadtholders Gate, today, the lower house meets in a chamber in the large modern eastern part of the complex
18.
The Hague
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The Hague is a city on the western coast of the Netherlands, and the capital city of the province of South Holland. With a population of 520,704 inhabitants and more than one million including the suburbs, it is the third-largest city of the Netherlands. The Rotterdam The Hague Metropolitan Area, with a population of approximately 2.7 million, is the 12th-largest in the European Union and the most populous in the country. Located in the west of the Netherlands, The Hague is in the centre of the Haaglanden conurbation and lies at the southwest corner of the larger Randstad conurbation. The Hague is the seat of the Dutch government, parliament, the Supreme Court, and the Council of State, but the city is not the capital of the Netherlands, which constitutionally is Amsterdam. King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands plans to live at Huis ten Bosch and works at Noordeinde Palace in The Hague, the Hague is also home to the world headquarters of Royal Dutch Shell and numerous other major Dutch companies. The Hague originated around 1230, when Count Floris IV of Holland purchased land alongside a pond, in 1248, his son and successor William II, King of the Romans, decided to extend the residence to a palace, which would later be called the Binnenhof. He died in 1256 before this palace was completed but parts of it were finished by his son Floris V, of which the Ridderzaal and it is still used for political events, such as the annual speech from the throne by the Dutch monarch. From the 13th century onwards, the counts of Holland used The Hague as their administrative centre, the village that originated around the Binnenhof was first mentioned as Haga in a charter dating from 1242. In the 15th century, the smarter des Graven hage came into use, literally The Counts Wood, with connotations like The Counts Hedge, s-Gravenhage was officially used for the city from the 17th century onwards. Today, this name is used in some official documents like birth. The city itself uses Den Haag in all its communication and their seat was located in The Hague. At the beginning of the Eighty Years War, the absence of city walls proved disastrous, in 1575, the States of Holland even considered demolishing the city but this proposal was abandoned, after mediation by William of Orange. From 1588, The Hague also became the seat of the government of the Dutch Republic, in order for the administration to maintain control over city matters, The Hague never received official city status, although it did have many of the privileges normally granted only to cities. In modern administrative law, city rights have no place anymore, only in 1806, when the Kingdom of Holland was a puppet state of the First French Empire, was the settlement granted city rights by Louis Bonaparte. After the Napoleonic Wars, modern-day Belgium and the Netherlands were combined in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands to form a buffer against France, as a compromise, Brussels and Amsterdam alternated as capital every two years, with the government remaining in The Hague. After the separation of Belgium in 1830, Amsterdam remained the capital of the Netherlands, when the government started to play a more prominent role in Dutch society after 1850, The Hague quickly expanded. The growing city annexed the rural municipality of Loosduinen partly in 1903, the city sustained heavy damage during World War II
19.
Netherlands
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The Netherlands, also informally known as Holland is the main constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a densely populated country located in Western Europe with three territories in the Caribbean. The European part of the Netherlands borders Germany to the east, Belgium to the south, and the North Sea to the northwest, sharing borders with Belgium, the United Kingdom. The three largest cities in the Netherlands are Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague, Amsterdam is the countrys capital, while The Hague holds the Dutch seat of parliament and government. The port of Rotterdam is the worlds largest port outside East-Asia, the name Holland is used informally to refer to the whole of the country of the Netherlands. Netherlands literally means lower countries, influenced by its low land and flat geography, most of the areas below sea level are artificial. Since the late 16th century, large areas have been reclaimed from the sea and lakes, with a population density of 412 people per km2 –507 if water is excluded – the Netherlands is classified as a very densely populated country. Only Bangladesh, South Korea, and Taiwan have both a population and higher population density. Nevertheless, the Netherlands is the worlds second-largest exporter of food and agricultural products and this is partly due to the fertility of the soil and the mild climate. In 2001, it became the worlds first country to legalise same-sex marriage, the Netherlands is a founding member of the EU, Eurozone, G-10, NATO, OECD and WTO, as well as being a part of the Schengen Area and the trilateral Benelux Union. The first four are situated in The Hague, as is the EUs criminal intelligence agency Europol and this has led to the city being dubbed the worlds legal capital. The country also ranks second highest in the worlds 2016 Press Freedom Index, the Netherlands has a market-based mixed economy, ranking 17th of 177 countries according to the Index of Economic Freedom. It had the thirteenth-highest per capita income in the world in 2013 according to the International Monetary Fund, in 2013, the United Nations World Happiness Report ranked the Netherlands as the seventh-happiest country in the world, reflecting its high quality of life. The Netherlands also ranks joint second highest in the Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index, the region called Low Countries and the country of the Netherlands have the same toponymy. Place names with Neder, Nieder, Nether and Nedre and Bas or Inferior are in use in all over Europe. They are sometimes used in a relation to a higher ground that consecutively is indicated as Upper, Boven, Oben. In the case of the Low Countries / the Netherlands the geographical location of the region has been more or less downstream. The geographical location of the region, however, changed over time tremendously
20.
Dutch language
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It is the third most widely spoken Germanic language, after English and German. Dutch is one of the closest relatives of both German and English and is said to be roughly in between them, Dutch vocabulary is mostly Germanic and incorporates more Romance loans than German but far fewer than English. In both Belgium and the Netherlands, the official name for Dutch is Nederlands, and its dialects have their own names, e. g. Hollands, West-Vlaams. The use of the word Vlaams to describe Standard Dutch for the variations prevalent in Flanders and used there, however, is common in the Netherlands, the Dutch language has been known under a variety of names. It derived from the Old Germanic word theudisk, one of the first names used for the non-Romance languages of Western Europe. It literarily means the language of the people, that is. The term was used as opposed to Latin, the language of writing. In the first text in which it is found, dating from 784, later, theudisca appeared also in the Oaths of Strasbourg to refer to the Germanic portion of the oath. This led inevitably to confusion since similar terms referred to different languages, owing to Dutch commercial and colonial rivalry in the 16th and 17th centuries, the English term came to refer exclusively to the Dutch. A notable exception is Pennsylvania Dutch, which is a West Central German variety called Deitsch by its speakers, Jersey Dutch, on the other hand, as spoken until the 1950s in New Jersey, is a Dutch-based creole. In Dutch itself, Diets went out of common use - although Platdiets is still used for the transitional Limburgish-Ripuarian Low Dietsch dialects in northeast Belgium, Nederlands, the official Dutch word for Dutch, did not become firmly established until the 19th century. This designation had been in use as far back as the end of the 15th century, one of them was it reflected a distinction with Hoogduits, High Dutch, meaning the language spoken in Germany. The Hoog was later dropped, and thus, Duits narrowed down in meaning to refer to the German language. g, in English, too, Netherlandic is regarded as a more accurate term for the Dutch language, but is hardly ever used. Old Dutch branched off more or less around the same time Old English, Old High German, Old Frisian and Old Saxon did. During that period, it forced Old Frisian back from the western coast to the north of the Low Countries, on the other hand, Dutch has been replaced in adjacent lands in nowadays France and Germany. The division in Old, Middle and Modern Dutch is mostly conventional, one of the few moments linguists can detect somewhat of a revolution is when the Dutch standard language emerged and quickly established itself. This is assumed to have taken place in approximately the mid-first millennium BCE in the pre-Roman Northern European Iron Age, the Germanic languages are traditionally divided into three groups, East, West, and North Germanic. They remained mutually intelligible throughout the Migration Period, Dutch is part of the West Germanic group, which also includes English, Scots, Frisian, Low German and High German
21.
States-Provincial
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The States-Provincial is the provincial parliament and legislative assembly in each of the provinces of the Netherlands. It is elected for each province simultaneously once every four years and has the responsibility for matters of sub-national or regional importance, each States-Provincial is directly elected by the electors within the relevant province, and the number of seats in each States-Provincial is proportional to its population. The States-Provincial originated as Estates assemblies in the Middle Ages, hence the name, from 1813 to 1850 the noble members of the ridderschap chose one third of the members of States-Provincial. Johan Rudolf Thorbeckes reforms and his Provinces Law of 1850 brought this privilege to an end, the States-Provincial choose the Gedeputeerde Staten as the executive organ of the province. Originally, the States-Provincial themselves had also executive powers and chose the Gedeputeerde Staten from their own members for daily governance, on 11 March 2003, the two institutions split, in other words, there was a change from fusion of powers to separation of powers. The principal roles of the States-Provincial have become to set policies, represent the people, approve provincial legislation. Both the Gedeputeerde Staten and the States-Provincial are presided over by the Kings Commissioner in the province, the last provincial elections were held 18 March 2015. Three months after their election the combined members of the States-Provincial elect the members of the Senate of the States-General of the Netherlands. The size of a States-Provincial ranges from 39 members for a province with less than 400,000 inhabitants to 55 members for a province with more than 2,000,000 inhabitants. Before 2007, it ranged from 47 members for a province with less than 200,000 inhabitants to 83 members for a province with more than 2,500,000 inhabitants. As a consequence of a change to the Provinciewet, starting at the States-Provincial elections of 7 March 2007, a survey of the change in seats per province, A consequence of this reduction in the number of seats is that the election threshold has risen. Depending on the province, the threshold now lies between 1. 5% and over 2% of the votes, because of this, it has become harder for small parties to win a seat. This may also have consequences for the representation of small parties in the Senate, outcome of the provincial elections calculated at national level, Note *,2003 election calculated for the 2007 number of seats. This table only shows the distribution straight after the elections
22.
House of Representatives (Netherlands)
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The House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral parliament of the Netherlands, the States General, the other one being the Senate. It has 150 seats which are filled through elections using a party-list proportional representation and it sits in the Binnenhof in The Hague. Although this body is called the House of Representatives in English, this is not a translation of its Dutch name. Rather than representatives, members of the House are referred to as Tweede Kamerlid, the House of Representatives is the main chamber of parliament, where discussion of proposed legislation and review of the actions of the cabinet takes place. Both the Cabinet and the House of Representatives itself have the right to propose legislation, review of the actions of the cabinet takes the form of formal interrogations, which may result in motions urging the cabinet to take, or refrain from, certain actions. No individual may be a member of parliament and cabinet, except in a caretaker cabinet that has not yet been succeeded when a new House is sworn in. The House of Representatives is also responsible for the first round of selection for judges to the Supreme Court of the Netherlands and it submits a list of three names for every vacant position to the Government. Furthermore, it elects the Dutch Ombudsman and his subsidiaries, the normal term of the House of Representatives is four years. Anybody eligible to vote in the Netherlands also has the right to establish a political party, parties wanting to take part must register 43 days before the elections, supplying a nationwide list of at most 50 candidates. The candidate lists are placed in the hands of the voters at least 14 days before the election, each candidate list is numbered, with the person in the first position known as the lijsttrekker. The lijsttrekker is usually appointed by the party to lead its election campaign, two or more parties can agree to combine their separate lists, which increases the chance of winning a remainder seat. Only large parties usually have some regional candidates at the bottom of their lists, a single vote can be placed on any one candidate. Many voters select one of the lijsttrekkers, but alternatively a preference vote may be made for a lower down the list. Once the election results are known, the seats are allocated to the parties, the number of valid national votes cast is divided by 150, the number of seats available, to give a threshold for each seat, 1/150th is approximately 0. 67% of the valid votes. Each partys number of votes is divided by this threshold to give a number of seats. Any party that received fewer votes than the threshold fails to gain representation in the House of Representatives, the threshold is one of the lowest for national parliaments in the world, and there are usually multiple parties winning seats with 2% or less of the vote. Any party that received more than 75% of the threshold will have its deposit refunded, after the initial seats are allocated, the remainder seats are allocated using the DHondt method of largest averages. This system slightly favours the larger parties, list combinations compete for the remainder seats as one list of the combined size of all parties in the combination, thus having more chance to gain remainder seats
23.
Southern Netherlands
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The Southern Netherlands, also called the Catholic Netherlands, was the part of the Low Countries largely controlled by Spain, later Austria, and occupied then annexed by France. The Southern Netherlands were part of the Holy Roman Empire until the area was annexed by Revolutionary France. As they were wealthy, the Netherlands in general were an important territory of the Habsburg crown which also ruled Spain. But unlike the other Habsburg dominions, they were led by a merchant class and it was the merchant economy which made them wealthy, and the Habsburg attempts at increasing taxation to finance their wars was a major factor in their defence of their privileges. This, together with resistance to penal laws enforced by the Habsburg monarchy that made heresy a capital crime, liège, Stavelot-Malmédy and Bouillon maintained their independence. The Habsburg Netherlands, passed to the Austrian Habsburgs after the War of the Spanish Succession in 1714, the Austrian Netherlands were ultimately lost to the French Revolutionary armies, and annexed to France in 1794. Following the war, Austrias loss of the territories was confirmed, the southeastern third of Luxembourg Province was made into the autonomous Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, because it was claimed by both the Netherlands and Prussia. In 1830 the predominantly Roman Catholic southern half became independent as the Kingdom of Belgium, in 1839 the final border between the kingdom of the Netherlands and Belgium was determined and the eastern part of Limburg returned to the Netherlands as the province of Limburg. The autonomy of Luxembourg was recognised in 1839, but an instrument to effect was not signed until 1867. The northwestern two-thirds of the original Luxembourg remains a province of Belgium, the Spanish Netherlands was a portion of the Low Countries controlled by Spain from 1556 to 1714, inherited from the Dukes of Burgundy. They often used the term Burgundy to refer to it, until 1794, when part of the Netherlands separated from Spanish rule and became the United Provinces in 1581 the remainder of the area became known as the Spanish Netherlands and remained under Spanish control. This region comprised modern Belgium, Luxembourg as well as part of northern France, in the early 17th century, there was a flourishing court at Brussels, which was under the government of King Philip IIIs half-sister Archduchess Isabella and her husband, Archduke Albert of Austria. Among the artists who emerged from the court of the Archdukes, by the Treaty of the Pyrenees of 1659 the French annexed Artois and Cambrai, and Dunkirk was ceded to the English. By the Treaties of Aix-la-Chapelle and Nijmegen, further territory up to the current Franco-Belgian border was ceded, including Walloon Flanders, later, in the War of the Reunions and the Nine Years War, France annexed other parts of the region. However, the Austrians themselves generally had little interest in the region, the area had, in fact, been given to Austria largely at British and Dutch insistence, as these powers feared potential French domination of the region. However the agreement was unimplemented and revoked by the Third Treaty of Versailles, however, the Emperors stance was far from militant, and he called off hostilities after the so-called Kettle War, known by that name because its only casualty was a kettle. The people of the Austrian Netherlands rebelled against Austria in 1788 as a result of Joseph IIs centralizing policies, the different provinces established the United States of Belgium. In the course of the French Revolution, the region was overrun by French armies after they won the Battle of Sprimont in 1794
24.
United Kingdom of the Netherlands
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The House of Orange-Nassau came to be the monarchs of this new state. The United Kingdom of the Netherlands collapsed after the 1830 Belgian Revolution, William I, King of the Netherlands, would refuse to recognize a Belgian state until 1839, when he had to yield under pressure by the Treaty of London. Only at this time were exact borders agreed upon, nowadays, the Benelux Union is in some ways a distant heir of the former United Kingdom of the Netherlands. Their respective political systems are similar and Dutch is the official. William returned to The Hague, where on 6 December he was offered the title of King and he refused, instead proclaiming himself Sovereign Prince of the Principality of the United Netherlands. During the Congress of Vienna in 1815 France had to give up its rule of the Southern Netherlands and these negotiations were not easy, because William tried to get as much out of it as he could. In 1789, after the Southern Netherlands declared themselves independent, Hendrik knew this was a fragile state, since then William had never forgotten this and after the fall of Napoleon he saw a chance. Three different scenarios were made, The Northern Netherlands restored within its old borders, if the Southern Netherlands would stay French, the Northern Netherlands should be extended to the Nete River or probably the whole of Flanders. In this scenario also portions of Germany would become Dutch, then the border would be the line Mechelen-Maastricht-Jülich-Cologne-Düsseldorf where it ends at the river Rhine. The first two came from Memorandum of Holland made in 1813 after the Battle of Leipzig. The last scenario came from William himself, the first scenario never made it because the Great Powers thought an independent Southern Netherlands/Belgium under an Austrian Prince was too weak and Austria was not interested in getting it back. The Dutch question became a problem, the Great Powers of Europe chose the last scenario, but didnt want to go as far in enlarging the Netherlands as William had wanted. It was later incorporated into the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Duchy of Luxembourg was not fully granted to William, because it was a member of the German Confederation. William however demanded that Luxembourg become a part of the Netherlands, historically it had been a part of the Seventeen Provinces or Burgundian Netherlands up to 1648, but Luxembourg was still a part of the discussions. On 1 March 1815, while the Congress of Vienna was still going on, Napoleon escaped from Elba and he was defeated at the Battle of Waterloo by Prussian, British, Belgian, Dutch and Nassau troops. In response, on 16 March 1815, William proclaimed the Netherlands a kingdom, furthermore, on 31 May 1815, William concluded a treaty at the Congress of Vienna whereby he ceded the Principality of Orange-Nassau to the Kingdom of Prussia in exchange for the Duchy of Luxembourg. With the unification, William completed his familys three-century quest to unite the Low Countries under a single rule, Royaume uni des Pays-Bas never was the French official name of this short-lived kingdom. This French unofficial name stayed in the language to avoid any confusion with the rest of the Netherlands after the Belgian Revolution and secession
25.
Brussels
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Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, is a region of Belgium comprising 19 municipalities, including the City of Brussels which is the capital of Belgium. The Brussels-Capital Region is a part of both the French Community of Belgium and the Flemish Community, but is separate from the region of Flanders or Wallonia. The region has a population of 1.2 million and an area with a population of over 1.8 million. Brussels is the de facto capital of the European Union as it hosts a number of principal EU institutions, the secretariat of the Benelux and the headquarters of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization are also located in Brussels. Today, it is considered an Alpha global city, historically a Dutch-speaking city, Brussels has seen a language shift to French from the late 19th century onwards. Today, the majority language is French, and the Brussels-Capital Region is a bilingual enclave within the Flemish Region. All road signs, street names, and many advertisements and services are shown in both languages, Brussels is increasingly becoming multilingual with increasing numbers of migrants, expatriates and minority groups speaking their own languages. The most common theory of the origin of Brussels name is that it derives from the Old Dutch Broekzele or Broeksel, meaning marsh, Saint Vindicianus, the bishop of Cambrai made the first recorded reference to the place Brosella in 695 when it was still a hamlet. The origin of the settlement that was to become Brussels lies in Saint Gaugericus construction of a chapel on an island in the river Senne around 580. The official founding of Brussels is usually situated around 979, when Duke Charles of Lower Lotharingia transferred the relics of Saint Gudula from Moorsel to the Saint Gaugericus chapel, Charles would construct the first permanent fortification in the city, doing so on that same island. Lambert I of Leuven, Count of Leuven gained the County of Brussels around 1000 by marrying Charles daughter, as it grew to a population of around 30,000, the surrounding marshes were drained to allow for further expansion. The Counts of Leuven became Dukes of Brabant at about this time, in the 13th century, the city got its first walls. After the construction of the city walls in the early 13th century, to let the city expand, a second set of walls was erected between 1356 and 1383. Today, traces of it can still be seen, mostly because the small ring, Brabant had lost its independence, but Brussels became the Princely Capital of the prosperous Low Countries, and flourished. In 1516 Charles V, who had been heir of the Low Countries since 1506, was declared King of Spain in St. Michael and St. Gudula Cathedral in Brussels. Upon the death of his grandfather, Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor in 1519 and it was in the Palace complex at Coudenberg that Charles V abdicated in 1555. This impressive palace, famous all over Europe, had expanded since it had first become the seat of the Dukes of Brabant. In 1695, during the Nine Years War, King Louis XIV of France sent troops to bombard Brussels with artillery, together with the resulting fire, it was the most destructive event in the entire history of Brussels
26.
Belgium
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Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a sovereign state in Western Europe bordered by France, the Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg, and the North Sea. It is a small, densely populated country which covers an area of 30,528 square kilometres and has a population of about 11 million people. Additionally, there is a group of German-speakers who live in the East Cantons located around the High Fens area. Historically, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg were known as the Low Countries, the region was called Belgica in Latin, after the Roman province of Gallia Belgica. From the end of the Middle Ages until the 17th century, today, Belgium is a federal constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. It is divided into three regions and three communities, that exist next to each other and its two largest regions are the Dutch-speaking region of Flanders in the north and the French-speaking southern region of Wallonia. The Brussels-Capital Region is a bilingual enclave within the Flemish Region. A German-speaking Community exists in eastern Wallonia, Belgiums linguistic diversity and related political conflicts are reflected in its political history and complex system of governance, made up of six different governments. Upon its independence, declared in 1830, Belgium participated in the Industrial Revolution and, during the course of the 20th century, possessed a number of colonies in Africa. This continuing antagonism has led to several far-reaching reforms, resulting in a transition from a unitary to a federal arrangement during the period from 1970 to 1993. Belgium is also a member of the Eurozone, NATO, OECD and WTO. Its capital, Brussels, hosts several of the EUs official seats as well as the headquarters of major international organizations such as NATO. Belgium is also a part of the Schengen Area, Belgium is a developed country, with an advanced high-income economy and is categorized as very high in the Human Development Index. A gradual immigration by Germanic Frankish tribes during the 5th century brought the area under the rule of the Merovingian kings, a gradual shift of power during the 8th century led the kingdom of the Franks to evolve into the Carolingian Empire. Many of these fiefdoms were united in the Burgundian Netherlands of the 14th and 15th centuries, the Eighty Years War divided the Low Countries into the northern United Provinces and the Southern Netherlands. The latter were ruled successively by the Spanish and the Austrian Habsburgs and this was the theatre of most Franco-Spanish and Franco-Austrian wars during the 17th and 18th centuries. The reunification of the Low Countries as the United Kingdom of the Netherlands occurred at the dissolution of the First French Empire in 1815, although the franchise was initially restricted, universal suffrage for men was introduced after the general strike of 1893 and for women in 1949. The main political parties of the 19th century were the Catholic Party, French was originally the single official language adopted by the nobility and the bourgeoisie
27.
Constitutional Reform of 1848
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The Constitutional Reform of 1848 laid the basis for the present system of parliamentary democracy in the Netherlands. It is often described as the version of the Dutch Constitution that is still in force today. Under pressure from the Revolutions of 1848 in surrounding countries, King William II agreed to demands of the liberal parliamentary opposition. The House of Representatives obtained much more influence, and was now directly elected, the reform was in some sense a peaceful revolution, in which liberal politician Johan Rudolph Thorbecke and King William II played important roles. On 17 March 1848, the king appointed a commission led by Thorbecke to prepare the Constitutional Reform. The commissions draft formed the basis of the governments proposals, the king and minister Donker Curtius then made sure that the proposals were accepted by both Houses of Parliament, both of which still had a conservative majority. Agreement was reached on 11 October 1848, on 3 November 1848, the new Constitution was proclaimed. The States-Provincial, themselves elected by the voter, appointed by majorities for each province the members of the Senate from a group of upper class citizens. Parliament was henceforth elected directly, and obtained the right to interpellation, the right to hold hearings. The freedom of ecclesiastical organisation enabled the Catholic Church to reestablish the episcopal hierarchy in the Netherlands in 1853, conservative Protestants initiated the April Movement in an attempt to prevent it, winning the sympathy of King William III
28.
Johan Rudolph Thorbecke
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Johan Rudolph Thorbecke was a Dutch politician and statesman of liberal signature, one of the most important Dutch politicians of the 19th century. In 1848 he virtually single-handedly drafted the revision of the Constitution of the Netherlands, giving power to the king. His father Frederik Willem was a Lutheran tobacco manufacturer of German descent, johan Rudolph proved to be diligent and exemplary at a young age, showing intelligence and curiosity. Because of the sacrifices of his parents, who continued to struggle financial problems. He enjoyed primary education in his birthplace and in Amsterdam, where he lived until 1806, Thorbecke began studying classical literature and philosophy in Amsterdam, studies he finished in Leiden defending a thesis on Asinius Pollio in 1820. Shortly after his promotion, Thorbecke was granted a scholarship for a journey through Germany. At Giessen he lectured as a professor, and at Göttingen, in 1824, published his treatise. He would spend four years travelling, during which he was introduced to historism and Romanticism, upon his return to the Netherlands in 1824, he settled in Amsterdam, where he wrote his first political work of significance, Bedenkingen aangaande het Regt en Den Staat. The climax of series was Over het hedendaags burgerschap, literally On contemporary citizenship, published in 1844. On 21 May 1844, Thorbecke was elected into the House of Representatives for South Holland, four years later, with much of Europe convulsed by the Revolutions of 1848, William II agreed upon the formation of a committee for revision of the constitution. Thorbecke was appointed as head of committee on 17 March. The changes were all created by Thorbecke, as the other members of the committee did little. The drafted constitution was reluctantly approved by the States General. Despite initial reluctance, William II appointed Thorbecke as formateur in late October 1849, in this cabinet, Thorbecke served as minister of the Interior and chaired the Council of Ministers, thus becoming de facto Prime Minister of the Netherlands. Thorbeckes first cabinet passed several acts of importance, including the Electoral Act and the Province Act in 1850. Despite these successes, Thorbeckes reforms were increasingly subjected to resistance, in 1853, the Catholic Church sought to restore the episcopal hierarchy in the Netherlands. Common people, pastors and conservative notables showed resistance to this in a movement known as the Aprilbeweging. Thorbecke, who remained passive in the issue in defence of the separation of church and state, was accused of catholic sympathies, Thorbecke spent nine years as leader of the opposition in the House of Representatives
29.
Degressive proportionality
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Degressive proportionality is an approach to the allocation of seats in a legislature or other decision-making body. This is an alternative to, for instance, Each subdivision electing the same number of members, Degressive proportionality is intermediate between those two approaches. As a term it does not describe any one particular formula, Each German state has three to six seats in the Bundesrat of Germany depending on its population. This means the least populous state, Bremen, has three seats while the most populous one, North Rhine-Westphalia, has six seats. Under the Treaty of Lisbon, the European Parliament uses a system of proportionality to allocate its 750 seats among the member states of the European Union. Treaty negotiations, rather than a formula, determine the apportionment between member states. Any system that reserves a minimum number seats for a sub-body is to some extent degressively proportional, one example is the election of the US presidential Electoral College. As each state has a minimum of three members of the college, voters in smaller states have more say in the election than the national average. Advantages There may be a real or perceived danger that one or more of the largest subdivisions will dominate the legislature and this danger reduces if the votes of these subdivisions are reduced. The smallest subdivisions, especially those on the periphery of the territory, There is a danger that these interests will be ignored if they have a tiny number of representatives. This danger reduces if their representation is increased, more pragmatically, the smallest subdivisions may be in a position to cause disproportionate trouble for the whole territory, for example by threatening to secede. This danger reduces if they are seen to be well-represented in the legislature, disadvantages Degressive proportionality goes against the basic democratic principle that all votes should count equally. Many of the advantages listed above would also apply to smaller areas which are not recognised as separate subdivisions for electoral purposes. It is unfair if they are not accorded the same treatment as areas which are recognised electorally as separate subdivisions
30.
World War I
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World War I, also known as the First World War, the Great War, or the War to End All Wars, was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. More than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilised in one of the largest wars in history and it was one of the deadliest conflicts in history, and paved the way for major political changes, including revolutions in many of the nations involved. The war drew in all the worlds great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances, the Allies versus the Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary. These alliances were reorganised and expanded as more nations entered the war, Italy, Japan, the trigger for the war was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, by Yugoslav nationalist Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914. This set off a crisis when Austria-Hungary delivered an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Serbia. Within weeks, the powers were at war and the conflict soon spread around the world. On 25 July Russia began mobilisation and on 28 July, the Austro-Hungarians declared war on Serbia, Germany presented an ultimatum to Russia to demobilise, and when this was refused, declared war on Russia on 1 August. Germany then invaded neutral Belgium and Luxembourg before moving towards France, after the German march on Paris was halted, what became known as the Western Front settled into a battle of attrition, with a trench line that changed little until 1917. On the Eastern Front, the Russian army was successful against the Austro-Hungarians, in November 1914, the Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers, opening fronts in the Caucasus, Mesopotamia and the Sinai. In 1915, Italy joined the Allies and Bulgaria joined the Central Powers, Romania joined the Allies in 1916, after a stunning German offensive along the Western Front in the spring of 1918, the Allies rallied and drove back the Germans in a series of successful offensives. By the end of the war or soon after, the German Empire, Russian Empire, Austro-Hungarian Empire, national borders were redrawn, with several independent nations restored or created, and Germanys colonies were parceled out among the victors. During the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, the Big Four imposed their terms in a series of treaties, the League of Nations was formed with the aim of preventing any repetition of such a conflict. This effort failed, and economic depression, renewed nationalism, weakened successor states, and feelings of humiliation eventually contributed to World War II. From the time of its start until the approach of World War II, at the time, it was also sometimes called the war to end war or the war to end all wars due to its then-unparalleled scale and devastation. In Canada, Macleans magazine in October 1914 wrote, Some wars name themselves, during the interwar period, the war was most often called the World War and the Great War in English-speaking countries. Will become the first world war in the sense of the word. These began in 1815, with the Holy Alliance between Prussia, Russia, and Austria, when Germany was united in 1871, Prussia became part of the new German nation. Soon after, in October 1873, German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck negotiated the League of the Three Emperors between the monarchs of Austria-Hungary, Russia and Germany
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Bonaire
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Bonaire is an island in the Leeward Antilles in the Caribbean Sea. Together with Aruba and Curaçao, it forms the group known as the ABC islands, unlike much of the Caribbean region, the ABCs lie outside the hurricane belt. The islands have a climate, which helps tourism, as visitors to the islands can reliably expect warm. Bonaire is a destination for SCUBA divers, and it is also well known for easy access to its various reefs from the shore. The island has a permanent population of 18,905 and an area of 294 km2, Bonaire was part of the Netherlands Antilles until the countrys dissolution in 2010, when the island became a special municipality within the country of the Netherlands. It is one of the three BES islands in the Caribbean, the other two BES islands are Sint Eustatius and Saba, the name Bonaire is thought to have originally come from the Caquetio word Bonay, a name that meant low country. The early Spanish and Dutch modified its spelling to Bojnaj and also Bonaire, the French influence, while present at various times, was never strong enough to make the assumption that the name means good air. Bonaires earliest known inhabitants were the Caquetio Indians, a branch of the Arawak who came by canoe from Venezuela in about 1000 AD, archeological remains of Caquetio culture have been found at certain sites northeast of Kralendijk and near Lac Bay. Caquetio rock paintings and petroglyphs have been preserved in caves at Spelonk, Onima, Ceru Pungi, the Caquetios were apparently a very tall people, for the Spanish name for the ABC Islands was las Islas de los Gigantes or the islands of the giants. In 1499, Alonso de Ojeda arrived in Curaçao and an island that was almost certainly Bonaire. Ojeda was accompanied by Amerigo Vespucci and Juan de la Cosa, de La Cosas Mappa Mundi of 1500 shows Bonaire and calls it Isla do Palo Brasil or Island of Brazilwood. In 1526, Juan de Ampies was appointed Spanish commander of the ABC Islands and he brought back some of the original Caquetio Indian inhabitants to Bonaire and Curaçao. Ampies also imported domesticated animals from Spain, including cows, donkeys, goats, horses, pigs, the Spaniards thought that Bonaire could be used as a cattle plantation worked by natives. The cattle were raised for hides rather than meat, the Spanish inhabitants lived mostly in the inland town of Rincon which was safe from pirate attack. The Dutch West India Company was founded in 1621, starting in 1623, ships of the West India Company called at Bonaire to obtain meat, water, and wood. The Dutch also abandoned some Spanish and Portuguese prisoners there, the Dutch and the Spanish fought from 1568 to 1648 in what is now known as the Eighty Years War. In 1633, the Dutch—having lost the island of St. Maarten to the Spanish—retaliated by attacking Curaçao, Bonaire, Bonaire was conquered in March 1636. The Dutch built Fort Oranje in 1639, while Curaçao emerged as a center of the slave trade, Bonaire became a plantation of the Dutch West India Company
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Sint Eustatius
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Sint Eustatius, also known affectionately to the locals as Statia, is part of the Caribbean Netherlands, i. e. it is a Caribbean island and a special municipality of the Netherlands. The island lies in the northern Leeward Islands portion of the West Indies, Sint Eustatius is immediately to the northwest of Saint Kitts, and to the southeast of Saba. The island has an area of 21 square kilometres, in the 2001 census, the population was recorded as 3,543 inhabitants, with a population density of 169 inhabitants per square kilometre. As of 2015, the population was estimated at 3,877. The official language is Dutch, but English is the language of life on the island. A local English-based creole is spoken informally. Travellers to the island by air arrive through F. D, formerly part of the Netherlands Antilles, Sint Eustatius became a special municipality within The Netherlands on 10 October 2010. The name of the island, “Sint Eustatius”, is the Dutch name for Saint Eustace, the island was seen by Christopher Columbus in 1493 and claimed by many different nations. From the first settlement, in the 17th century until the early 19th century, in 1636, the chamber of Zeeland of the Dutch West India Company took possession of the island that was then reported to be uninhabited. As of 1678, the islands of St. Eustatius, Sint Maarten and Saba fell under command of the Dutch West India Company. At the time, the island was of importance for cultivation of tobacco. Its economy developed by ignoring the monopolistic trade restrictions of the British, French, St. Eustatiuss economy, under the Dutch, flourished. The island was known as The Golden Rock, edmund Burke said of the island in 1781, It has no produce, no fortifications for its defense, nor martial spirit nor military regulations. The universality of its use, the neutrality of its nature was its security and its proprietors had, in the spirit of commerce, made it an emporium for all the world. Its wealth was prodigious, arising from its industry and the nature of its commerce, the island sold arms and ammunition to anyone willing to pay. It was one of the few places from which the young United States could obtain military stores, the good relationship between St. Eustatius and the United States resulted in the noted First Salute. On November 16,1776, Captain Isaiah Robinson of the 14-gun American brig Andrew Doria, Robinson announced his arrival by firing a thirteen gun salute, one gun for each of the thirteen American colonies in rebellion against Britain. Governor Johannes de Graaff replied with a gun salute from the cannons of Fort Oranje
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Saba
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Saba is a Caribbean island and the smallest special municipality of the Netherlands. It consists largely of the active volcano Mount Scenery, at 887 metres the highest point of the entire Netherlands. Saba has an area of 13 square kilometres. As of January 2013, the population was 1,991 inhabitants and its towns and major settlements are The Bottom, Windwardside, Hells Gate and St. Johns. The origin of the name Saba comes from the Arabic word Sabha, like many Caribbean islands, Saba is highly dependent on fossil fuels imports, which leaves it vulnerable to global oil price fluctuations that directly impact the cost of electricity. This new energy policy is defined by the development plan 2014–2020’. Intermediate targets are 20% renewable electricity by 2017 and 40% by 2020, christopher Columbus is said to have sighted the island on 13 November 1493. He did not land, being deterred by the islands rocky shores. In 1632, a group of shipwrecked Englishmen landed upon Saba and they stated they found the island uninhabited when they were rescued, however, clear evidence has been found indicating that Caribs and Arawak Native Nations have lived on the island. In 1635, a stray Frenchman claimed Saba for Louis XIII of France, in the latter 1630s, the Dutch Governor of the neighboring island of Sint Eustatius sent several Dutch families over to colonize the island for the Dutch West India Company. These Dutch family names included Hassell, Heyliger, Leverock, Zagers, the Netherlands have been in continuous possession of Saba since 1816, after numerous flag changes during the previous centuries. By 2016 the island had been French for 12 years, English for 18 years, in the 17th and 18th centuries Sabas major industries were sugar, indigo and rum produced on plantations owned by Dutchmen living on St Eustatius, and later fishing, particularly lobster fishing. In the 17th century Saba was believed to be a hideout for Jamaican pirates. England also deported its undesirable people to live in the Caribbean colonies, and some of them also became pirates, the island of Saba is forbidding and steep, a natural fortress, and so the island became a private sanctuary for the families of smugglers and pirates. The most notable native Saban pirate was Hiram Beakes, who famously quipped, during this period of time, with most of the islands men gone out to sea, the island became known as The Isle of Women. The remains of the settlements of 1630–40 can be found on the west side at Tent Bay and these settlements were destroyed by a landslide in the 17th century. A status referendum was held in Saba on 5 November 2004,86. 05% of the population voted for closer links to the Netherlands. Saba consists largely of the active volcano Mount Scenery
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Annemarie Jorritsma
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Annemarie Jorritsma-Lebbink is a Dutch politician of the Peoples Party for Freedom and Democracy. She was Mayor of Almere from 16 August 2003 till August 2015, since 9 June 2015, she has been a member of the Senate. Since 24 November 2015, she has also been Senate group leader, order of Orange-Nassau Officer Parlement. com biography
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Tiny Kox
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Martinus Josephus Maria Tiny Kox is a Dutch politician. As a member of the Socialist Party he has been a member of the Senate as well as Senate leader since June 10,2003, Kox studied law at Tilburg University. From 1975 to 1978 he worked in Tilburg law centre, in 1978 at the municipality of Oosterhout, from 1981 to 1994 he was editor-in-chief of Tribune, SPs member party magazine, and from 1982 to 1999 he was SP faction leader of the municipal council of Tilburg. Furthermore, he has been exercising several jobs in the party executive, since June 2003 Kox has been a member of the Senate. He is also chairman of the Party of the European Left in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and a member employee of SPs policy institute. At the general elections of 2006 Kox was elected as a member in the House of Representatives but did not take his member seat, in order to continue serving in the Senate
36.
Tineke Strik
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Martina Hermina Antonia Strik is a Dutch politician. As of 2007 she is a member of the Senate for GreenLeft, between 1979 and 1983, Strik studied social-cultural work at the social academy Den Elzent in Eindhoven. In the meanwhile, she worked at the Kindertelefoon, a help line for children. Between 1981 and 1985, she worked as a worker at the Cultural Youth Centre De Effelaar in Eindhoven. She continued to study law at the Radboud University between 1985 and 1991, she also studied Turkish between 1989 and 1991. Between 1990 and 1993, she worked a legal consultant at the Youh Advice Centre in Amsterdam, between 1994 and 1995, she briefly studied law at the Radbouw University. She also took courses at the Red Cross, Clingendael, between 1993 and 1996, she worked at Vluchtelingenwerk, an organization that helps refugees, as a legal consultant. She then worked as a secretary at the court of Zwolle. In 1997, she made the switch to politics, she began to work for the GreenLeft parliamentary party as an advisor on justice. Between 2001 and 2002, she worked as coordinator for the Ministry of Justice. Between 2002 and 2006, she was alderman for social affairs, including youth, culture, in 2004, she also became researcher-PhD-candidate at the Centre for Migration law of the Radboud University. She had several positions within the GreenLeft and she was member of the Strategic Council, a council of local and national GreenLeft politicians on the partys course. In 2005-2006, she was a member of the committee which wrote GreenLefts election program and she also was suppleant of the congress of local government of the Council of Europe and observer at the 2005 local elections in the Palestinian National Authority. In 2007, she was elected into the Senate, in 2008, she announced that she was one of five candidates for the position of top candidate for the GreenLeft in the 2009 European Parliament election
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Roel Kuiper
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Roelof Kuiper is a Dutch historian, philosopher, ideologue, politician and university professor. Kuiper received his doctorate in History in 1986 at the VU, in 1992 he got his promotion at the same university on the subject, Zelfbeeld en wereldbeeld, antirevolutionairen en het buitenland 1848-1905. He received his doctorate in Philosophy at the VU in 1998, from 2000 until 2002 he was director of the Scientific Institute of the ChristianUnion, the Groen van Prinsterer Stichting. Currently Kuiper is member of the Nationale Conventie, a tank for a revision of the national political system. This system consists presently of a government, a bicameral parliament, the judiciary. The central question is, if changes in that system can tribute to recovery of faith between citizens and government, the historical, political and philosophical publications by Kuiper are often apologetic by nature, defending the Christian faith in the Netherlands against ongoing secularization. Many of his ideas are inspired by Guillaume Groen van Prinsterer, Kuiper has been a ChristianUnion member of the Dutch Senate since June 12,2007. He has been Senate group leader since June 7,2011, vernieuwing en sociaal conflict in de antirevolutionaire beweging, 1871-1894 Uitzien naar de zin. ‘Das abschied eines antirevolutionärs von Deutschland, abraham Kuyper und Adolf Stoecker ’, in, Jahrbuch Zentrum Für Niederlande-Studien. Over anti-utopisch denken en politieke verantwoordelijkheid, Op het breukvlak van twee millennia Kunst van het leven. De cultuuruitdaging van de 21e eeuw, Redactie met L. la Riviere en prof. dr. Balkenende ‘Tot een voorbeeld zult Gij blijven’, ‘Techniek en politiek, humaniteit, moraliteit en openbaar bestuur’, in, Kees Boersma, Jan van der Stoep, Maarten Verkerk, Ad Vlot, Aan Babels stromen. Een bevrijdend perspectief op ethiek en techniek, ‘Human Identity and Reformational Social Philosophy’, in, Philosophia Reformata. ‘Dialoog en vervreemding als politieke werkelijkheid’, in, Govert Buijs, Peter Blokhuis, Sander Griffioen, Roel Kuiper, over de schutting, Op weg naar nieuwe solidariteit, Redactie samen met Cors Visser. ‘Groen van Prinsterer’s Ongeloof en Revolutie ’, in, F. G. M, Kuiper, Is ’t waar of niet. Ophefmakende publicaties uit de negentiende eeuw. ‘Heimat und Fremde – Herausforderungen im Zeitalter von Migration und Globalisierung’, in, Erkenntnis und Glaube, ‘De praktijk van het sociaal werk’, in, Henk Jochemsen, Roel Kuiper, Bram de Muynck, Een theorie over praktijken. Normatief praktijkmodel voor zorg, sociaal werk en onderwijs
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Niko Koffeman
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Niko Karel Koffeman is a Dutch politician. He has been represented the Party for Animals in the Senate of the States-General since 12 June 2007, Koffeman worked for several years as a campaign strategist for the Socialist Party. Among his accomplishments was the creation of their current logo, in addition to his political work, he has been active in several animal rights organizations. He has also worked as a broadcast director and he later played a key role in the creation of the Party for Animals, and now acts as their sole representative in the Senate. Koffeman is married to television presenter Antoinette Hertsenberg and they are members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Parlement. com biography Niko Koffeman biography at Party for Animals website
listen), literally "First Chamber", or sometimes Senaat [səˈnaːt]) is the upper house of the States General, the legislature of the Netherlands. Its 75 members are elected on lists by the members of the twelve States-Provincial every four years, within three months of the provincial elections. All provinces have different electoral weight depending on their population.
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![Azure, billetty Or a lion with a coronet Or armed and langued Gules holding in his dexter paw a sword Argent hilted Or and in the sinister paw seven arrows Argent pointed and bound together Or. [The seven arrows stand for the seven provinces of the Union of Utrecht.] The shield is crowned with the (Dutch) royal crown and supported by two lions Or armed and langued gules. They stand on a scroll Azure with the text (Or) "Je Maintiendrai" (French for "I will maintain".)](/wiki/File:State_coat_of_arms_of_the_Netherlands.svg)
