The NS and ProRail assumed on Thursday of last week that there would be three to five centimetres of snow. When the forecast was increased on Friday morning to between 10 and 15 centimetres, it was too late to change the timetables automatically, Schultz van Haegen told parliament.

Drivers and conductors had to be told about the changes individually which cost time and delayed the availability of information to passengers, she said.

Once the new schedule was up and running, it did provide ‘a predictable and reliable service’ from Sunday onwards, the Volkskrant quotes the minister as saying.

Schultz van Haegen says she will be consulting ‘experts’ from countries with experience of extreme weather conditions to find solutions to the chaos on the railways whenever it snows.

But she also says the railways will remain ‘vulnerable’ because of the ‘intensive use of the trains and track’.

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At a conference celebrating the fifth anniversary of Romania’s accession to the European Union, he accused the Dutch government of “abuse” and claimed it was blocking Romanian and Bulgarian membership of the passport-free Schengen Zone on false pretences.

He repeated an earlier accusation that the Dutch government is being held to ransom by Geert Wilders’ Freedom Party and said he was “concerned that anti-European parties are taking part in governments.”

The Netherlands argues that Romania and Bulgaria are not doing enough to tackle corruption and organised crime. Immigration, Integration and Asylum Minister Gerd Leers said their membership could not be supported until that situation improves.

Denmark, which currently occupies the rotating EU presidency, has called on the Netherlands to abandon its opposition. It says there are no grounds for objecting to Schengen membership for the two East European countries.

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Much of the high-tech surveillance equipment has already been installed on the Dutch borders with Belgium and Germany. The cameras apparently collect data on the models and colours of cars crossing the border.

The idea is that if, for instance, it is thought that convoys of white vans moving at night are being used to transport illegal foreign workers to the Netherlands, the cameras can be set to alert police to this sort of suspicious convoy. The police can then intercept the vans.

More free movement
Mr Leers has written to the European Union defending the idea of using the cameras in this way, saysEUobserver. He argues that the cameras provide an alternative to more invasive policing of the borders of the Netherlands, which is a member of the ‘borderless’ Schengen group of countries.

By ensuring that Dutch border police run sample checks “at the right time and right place”, the minister says, fewer bona fide travellers will be stopped unnecessarily. He maintains this will actually guarantee more freedom of movement – the basic principle of the Schengen treaty.

At the moment, the Dutch police carry out border checks at random.

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‘There are currently 23 million people in the EU without work and in the long term, that is not sustainable,’ Rutte said.

‘The internal market can be an important motor for growth, but only 40% of the EU economy falls under it. That percentage must be increased,’ Rutte said in a statement.

At the same time, moves to improve budgetary discipline within the eurozone are being taken. ‘The agreements in the stability and growth pact have been tightened up considerably, meaning faster and tougher intervention can take place,’ Rutte said.

Fiscal treaty

During the summit, 25 of the 27 EU leaders agreed to join a fiscal treaty to enforce budgetary discipline. Britain and the Czech Republic opted out.

The treaty, largely agreed last December, gives a greater role to the European Commission in making sure national budgets meet the rules and allows the European Court of Justice to monitor compliance.

Rutte also said the EU must continue to expand its presence in foreign markets. This is particularly important for country like the Netherlands whose economy is based on exports, he said.

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And one in seven of those that are too fat is so heavy that they risk developing serious health problems, the institute says.

The research involved 4,000 people aged between 30 and 70.

Compared with previous research carried out 15 years ago, women aged 30 to 39 have put on most weight.

More people have developed fat around their middle, which is an important indicator of the risk of diabetes and cardio-vascular disease, RIVM spokeswoman Monique Verschuren told the paper.

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The decision means students living away from home will no longer get a grant of some €260 a month towards the cost of their degree. Instead, they will be able to borrow the same amount of money from the student loan service, according to the draft legislation sent to parliament on Thursday.

‘They will soon benefit from their studies, which will still be largely paid for by the government, or taxpayer, when the loans are introduced,’ junior education minister Halbe Zijlstra said.

In addition, students will make better choices and complete their degrees faster if they have to pay for it themselves, he said.

The government has already limited the grant for basic degrees to four years in most cases

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Market players said position unwinding might give the euro a further lift in the near-term, with one possible upside target at $1.3077, the single currency’s high so far in January.

Greece’s negotiations with creditors on a debt swap remain a major worry, but any positive news there could see investors continue to cut bearish positions in the single currency, analysts said.

“If the Greek debt talks do break down, clearly that is going to be one of the risks” to the euro/dollar, said Mitul Kotecha, head of global foreign exchange strategy for Credit Agricole in Hong Kong.

“I suppose markets will look for any sign that the talks are progressing today to help to sustain the rally in euro,” he added.

The euro held steady at $1.2963, well above a 17-month low of $1.2624 hit late last week on trading platform

EBS.

The single currency has risen about 2.6 percent against the dollar so far this week, putting it on track for its biggest weekly percentage rise since October.

Against the yen, the euro was little changed near 100.00 yen, having rebounded since hitting an 11-year low of 97.04 yen on January 16.

The euro clung to gains made the previous day after successful bond sales in Spain and France.

Spain passed its biggest test of market sentiment on Thursday, selling more longer-term debt than hoped. France’s debt auction also drew strong demand, signalling that markets have largely shrugged off last week’s salvo of euro zone rating downgrades from Standard & Poor’s.

A trader for a European bank said the euro might test $1.3000 in the near-term but have trouble breaking it in Asia, even as some investors trim short euro positions ahead of next week’s Lunar New Year holidays.

“People who were happy to be short at $1.2800 and $1.2900 have covered, but there are still some who are happy to be short at $1.3000,” the trader said, adding that there were stop-loss bids placed just above that level.

Traders warned that the euro was still in a downtrend, and only a break above the October low at $1.3145 would suggest an interim base has formed.

Market players still see downside risks to the euro in coming months, due to nagging concerns that the euro zone economy may slip into recession and limit progress toward fiscal consolidation in the region.

With the Greek debt swap talks yet to be resolved, traders are also fretting the risk of a disorderly default by Greece, which faces bond redemptions in March.

The euro and the risk-sensitive Australian dollar took in their stride a signal showing that China’s manufacturers started 2012 in a sluggish mode.

The HSBC flash manufacturing purchasing managers index (PMI), the earliest indicator of China’s industrial activity, stood at 48.8 in January, below the 50 level that demarcates expansion from contraction.

Still, it came in at a three-month high and was a slight improvement on the 48.7 final reading of the December index.

The Australian dollar eased 0.1 percent to $1.0408, hovering near an 11-week high of $1.0450 hit earlier this week.

The dollar was stuck near a two-week low against a basket of currencies, in the wake of the euro’s recent rally.

The dollar index stood at 80.096, having dipped to 80.041 the previous day, its lowest level since January 4.

Against the yen, the dollar held steady at 77.14 yen, hovering near the top end of its 76.30 yen to 77.342 yen range so far in January.

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The VVD announced in 2010 that it intended reforming the social welfare system. It can rely on support from its smaller coalition partner, the Christian Democrats, as well as the democrat D66 opposition party. “It depends on the type of benefit, but the bottom line is I think anyone claiming welfare should be able to speak Dutch,” says D66 MP Fatma Koser Kaya in de Volkskrant.

Geert Wilders’ anti-Islam Freedom Party, which supports the minority government in parliament, is also in favour of the proposal.

Dutch test “superfluous”
The Dutch Labour Party, the Socialist Party and GreenLeft say the proposed legislation is “superfluous” because, under the present system, social assistance claimants are forced to do their best to get work. They point out that many people receiving welfare are already attending Dutch classes so that they can apply for jobs in a Dutch-speaking environment.

Ms Van Nieuwenhuizen says welfare claimants will be afforded a chance to improve their Dutch before having their welfare payments reduced if they fail the language test. “But if they don’t cooperate, then their payments can be reduced by 20 percent after six months. If they still resist after that, their benefit will be cut by 40 percent. Eventually, they will forfeit their right to social assistance altogether.”

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The commissioner’s wife fell and was injured when the couple were taking a walk on New Year’s Eve. He went to fetch his car because he felt it was taking too long for help to arrive. When he returned to the scene of the accident, police officers thought they smelled alcohol on his breath and administered a breathalyzer test. This showed that his blood alcohol level was four times higher than the legal limit.

The Public Prosecutor’s Office had sought a 1,500 euro fine and an eight-month suspension, but the court took into consideration the fact that the case had already received a lot of media attention. However, the judge did add that there had been no real emergency and that, as a police commissioner, Mr Hoogstraten should have known better.

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The move was prompted by the discovery of the Schmallenberg virus among Dutch livestock.

Deputy Agriculture Minister Henk Bleker says the measure is unnecessary and intends to persuade his Russian colleague to revoke the ban when he meets him in Berlin later this week.

Mr Bleker says there is no danger to public health.

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