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The electricity and drinking water consumption of most data centres in the Netherlands remains officially undisclosed, despite legal reporting requirements. An investigation by Lighthouse Reports, Trouw, and other European media found that most data centres withhold information about their environmental impact.

What the investigation found

The EU’s Energy Efficiency Directive (EED), in effect for three years, requires data centres with at least 500 kilowatts of installed capacity to report their energy and water use to national authorities. In practice, few centres fully comply.

In the Netherlands, the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) holds data on only 104 data centres, while the Dutch Datacenter Association (DDA) reported 186 commercial sites of that size at the end of last year. This means the regulator lacks data on nearly half of them, not including in-house centres operated by banks, hospitals, and other firms. Public figures are available for the electricity use of only 44 centres and water use of 47, representing less than a quarter of large data centres. The RVO stated it has additional data but did not release the figures.

The DDA maintains that this gap is solvable, noting that the RVO could obtain a complete overview by contacting operators directly.

The big players stay quiet

Several major operators do not disclose any information. Google, which operates two large data centres in the Netherlands, does not publish this data. Both Google and Microsoft have declined to provide their Dutch energy figures, citing “business confidentiality” as permitted by the directive, leaving regulatory records incomplete. Available data is limited; RVO figures released this summer show that Microsoft’s largest Dutch data centre accounts for 1 percent of the country’s total electricity use, though it operates on renewable power.

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Why it matters now

This lack of transparency comes at a critical time. The number of data centres has increased with the growth of cloud computing and AI, driving up power demand. Statistics Netherlands (CBS) reports that data centres used 5.1 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity in 2024, representing 4.6 percent of national consumption and nearly double the usage from five years ago. Grid operator TenneT projects this could rise to 10 to 15 percent by 2030, while limited grid capacity has already placed businesses, public institutions, and housing developments on waiting lists. Although water use is lower, at an estimated 0.1 percent of the national total, ongoing droughts have heightened competition for water resources.

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A legal fight over the right to know

Reporters spent a year submitting freedom-of-information requests in all 27 EU member states and to the European Commission, but encountered what they described as a “wall of silence.” They noted that the Netherlands discloses more than most countries. Lighthouse Reports has filed a complaint with the Aarhus Convention compliance committee, arguing that withholding this information violates the public’s right to know the true scale and impact of Europe’s AI expansion.

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The Dutch government supports allowing year-round residents in holiday parks as a partial solution to the country’s severe housing shortage. However, most municipalities disagree. An investigation by NOS and regional broadcasters found that most councils are disregarding the housing minister’s request to relax enforcement and continue to uphold rules against permanent residence.

What the survey found

Regional broadcasters surveyed all 342 Dutch municipalities about their policies on permanent residence in holiday parks, including 177 with relevant parks or substantive responses. Of the 112 municipalities previously enforcing the rules, 97 have not changed their approach. In total, 116 of the 177 councils oppose permanent residency in recreational homes.

The policy tug-of-war

The issue has become a standoff between the national government and local councils. The previous government proposed legalising residence in holiday homes, which have less stringent building requirements, for ten years. After concerns about feasibility, the current government adopted a tolerance policy. In a letter to parliament in July, Housing Minister Elanor Boekholt-O’Sullivan asked councils to show restraint in enforcement and to leave permanent residents undisturbed unless there are “compelling reasons” to intervene, such as safety risks or criminal activity.

The government aims to prevent holiday home residents from suddenly becoming homeless. New national agreements are expected by year-end.

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Why councils are resisting

Many municipalities remain unconvinced, citing practical concerns. They argue that local authorities, not the ministry, are best positioned to make these decisions. “As a municipality, we know our own parks and the people who live there, so we are best placed to judge what constitutes a good solution,” said alderman Jacob Boonstra of Westerveld, Drenthe, which has 62 holiday parks, mostly near nature reserves.

Tourism is a key reason for resistance. Councils note that holiday parks attract visitors who support local businesses and fund community amenities, and they wish to preserve these parks for recreation. Some are concerned about mixing permanent residents and tourists, with Zeewolde warning that housing both groups together “does not enhance the quality of the recreational and tourism experience, and it can lead to friction.” Councils such as Venlo also fear the minister’s approach may create false expectations about permanent residence.

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The minister’s response

In response, Boekholt-O’Sullivan reiterated that this is a local decision. She stated that municipalities must balance recreation options with “supporting residents in a distressing situation,” and she trusts they consider this carefully. She also clarified that the agreements are “not to use holiday parks for permanent habitation as a solution to the housing shortage.” With councils holding firm, the issue is likely to remain unresolved.

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Starting 1 October, public-transport enforcement officers in the Netherlands, known as ov-boa’s, will be authorised to consult the national driving-licence register to identify passengers without ID. This change enables officers to issue fines directly, eliminating the need to wait for police assistance.

Why it is changing

Enforcement officers (buitengewoon opsporingsambtenaren, or boa’s) must legally confirm a person’s identity before issuing a warning or fine. This is straightforward when individuals present an ID, but challenges occur when someone does not have their ID available.

This issue is significant: research shows that 42 percent of BOA encounters occur daily where officers cannot independently verify someone’s identity. Previously, officers had to call the police to confirm identities, which consumed police resources and often led to delays, frustration, and potential escalation: outcomes this change aims to prevent.

How it will work

The driving-licence register, maintained by the road authority RDW, holds photos of over 12 million licence-holders in the Netherlands and is already used by police for identity verification. Granting ov-boa’s access allows officers to immediately compare a passenger’s claimed identity with the corresponding photo in the register.

From 1 October, public transport employers can request access to the register for their officers. State Secretary Annet Bertram, responsible for public transport and rail, noted that officers have expressed frustration over limited options for establishing identity, calling these concerns “very frustrating, and rightly so.”

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The privacy safeguards

Because photos are sensitive personal data, access is strictly regulated. Officers may consult the register only to detect offences, and only after attempting other identification methods. It serves as a last resort, not a routine check. Photos can be viewed briefly, reportedly for up to 30 seconds, and cannot be saved. All lookups are logged for monitoring, and any managers must report misuse to the police and public prosecutor.

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Part of a wider rollout

This measure is part of a phased rollout. Since 1 April 2026, boa’s in municipalities and rural areas have had access to the register. The extension now includes ov-boa’s working for public-transport companies and the city of Amsterdam, arranged through a general administrative order (AMvB). The government is also considering granting boa’s access to additional registers to help identify offenders, as part of broader efforts to improve public transport safety.

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Rising fuel prices are pushing more Dutch drivers to refuel in Belgium and Germany. In the first half of 2026, Dutch motorists filled up abroad significantly more often, according to De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB), which tracked Dutch debit and credit card payments in these neighbouring countries.

Key figures

Dutch card payments at Belgian and German petrol stations increased by 20 percent compared to the previous year, reaching approximately 25 million transactions totaling about 1.5 billion euros. Growth was highest in Belgium, with payments rising by one third to 11.3 million, while in Germany they increased by 11 percent to 14.2 million. In contrast, transactions at Dutch petrol stations declined by 3 percent during the same period.

Reasons for cross-border refuelling

Price is the primary factor. The recommended price for a litre of petrol in the Netherlands is currently about 2.73 euros, among the highest in Europe, mainly due to high fuel duty and VAT. In Germany, drivers can typically save around 25 cents per litre, and in Belgium, about 50 cents.

DNB statistician Arto Vinkka noted a possible shift this year. Although fuel prices also increased in Belgium and Germany following the late February attacks on Iran, the price gap with the Netherlands remained similar. Nevertheless, more Dutch drivers chose to refuel abroad. “It may be that a psychological limit has been reached because of the high price at the pump,” Vinkka said.

Within the Netherlands, drivers are also seeking lower prices. Refuelling at unmanned stations is increasing, which Vinkka said “may indicate that motorists are settling for less service” in exchange for a lower price.

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Additional cross-border spending

Refuelling abroad often goes hand in hand with other activities. Dutch drivers frequently pair filling up with grocery shopping, leisure outings, or visits to cafes and restaurants, benefiting Belgian and German businesses beyond petrol stations. In the past six months, Dutch shoppers made 14.5 million card payments at supermarkets across the border, more than double the figure from the same period in 2022.

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Interpreting the data

These figures require careful interpretation. DNB data reflects where Dutch cards are used and the sector, but does not track fuel volume, unique drivers, or lost Dutch revenue. The 1.5 billion euros spent abroad does not directly translate to a loss for Dutch petrol stations or the national treasury. Many of these trips would have happened regardless of where the money was spent. Additionally, this figure may include costs related to electric vehicle (EV) charging. Furthermore, the Netherlands continues to collect taxes from associated businesses and their employees. While the data indicates a clear behavioural shift, the actual financial impact on the Netherlands is more complex than a single headline figure suggests.

This trend is influencing ongoing domestic discussions. Fuel duty remains a political issue, with a temporary discount repeatedly extended. The government now plans to phase out this discount, which, if pump prices remain high, could further encourage drivers in border regions to refuel abroad.

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If booking a flight makes you anxious about sudden price changes, the Dutch consumer regulator confirms this concern is common. In a new study, the Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) reports that computer-set prices often leave consumers confused and uneasy, as it is usually unclear how these prices are determined.

What the study found

The ACM studied the Dutch airline ticket market as an example of dynamic pricing, where prices change frequently based on supply, demand, and competitors’ rates. The study found that a seat on the same flight is offered at an average of 30 to 35 different prices during the sales period. On any given flight, one in three tickets is priced at least 40 percent above the average ticket price.

According to ACM chairman Martijn Snoep, this leads to “a lot of stress and uncertainty.” Consumers spend more time searching for good prices and have difficulty comparing offers, often unsure whether to book immediately or wait. Those in vulnerable positions may be affected more, especially if they cannot afford to wait for a potential price reduction.

Beyond flights

Airlines are only one example. The ACM notes that similar pricing algorithms are becoming common across the economy, particularly online for products such as concert tickets. Increasingly, physical stores are also adopting digital price tags that can be updated instantly. “We expect that, because of AI and the availability of data, companies will use computer-set prices more often, including personalised prices,” Snoep said.

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A useful myth-buster

One key finding addresses a common misconception. Many believe that previous searches or the device used can increase prices, and that clearing cookies or switching devices will secure a better deal. The ACM found that, for flights, this is not the case: earlier searches and device choice do not affect the price. “Clearing cookies or booking your ticket on another device is therefore pointless,” the regulator said. Truly personalised pricing, based on individual characteristics or behaviour, is currently used only to a limited extent for flights, mainly within loyalty programmes.

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What the ACM wants

Charging different customers varying prices for the same product is not illegal, and the ACM recognises that algorithmic pricing can reduce costs and increase seat occupancy, potentially lowering average prices. The main issue is transparency. Currently, companies using dynamic pricing are not required to disclose this practice or explain the factors influencing price changes. Those using personalised pricing must state that they use it, but do not need to specify which factors are considered.

The ACM advocates for greater transparency, stating that companies should clearly explain what does and does not influence pricing. The regulator argues this would reduce unnecessary searching and help restore consumer trust. The ACM is not proposing a ban, but is initiating a discussion. Businesses and consumers can respond to the draft report until 9 November, and the ACM will host a round-table on the responsible use of price algorithms in early 2027.

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Several Dutch hospitals temporarily took parts of their systems offline over the weekend, preventing patients from accessing their medical records, following warnings about a serious security flaw in widely used software. This was a precautionary measure, not the result of a cyberattack, and the issue has since been resolved.

What happened

The issue involves Citrix NetScaler, a product used by large organisations such as hospitals, banks, and government agencies to manage network traffic and provide secure remote access. Patients rely on systems built with NetScaler to view their medical records online.

Over the weekend, the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) warned of critical vulnerabilities in NetScaler. Z-CERT, which specialises in healthcare cybersecurity, advised hospitals to take precautionary measures, including temporarily disabling vulnerable systems. Several hospitals followed this advice. As a result, patients at affected hospitals could not access their records during online consultations, although doctors within the hospitals retained access.

Hospitals reporting issues included Amphia Ziekenhuis in Breda, Elisabeth-TweeSteden Ziekenhuis (ETZ) in Tilburg and Waalwijk, and Frisius MC in Leeuwarden. The disruption extended beyond healthcare, as the interior ministry reported that some civil servants were unable to work remotely after its Citrix applications were disabled.

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A precaution, not a breach

The hospitals emphasised that this was not a cyberattack and that no patient data was compromised. Disabling the systems was a proactive security measure, taken on the advice of security agencies.

The caution was warranted because the flaw was serious and already being exploited. According to the NCSC, Citrix issued security warnings for eight vulnerabilities, including two zero-days that were actively targeted. The most severe ones allow attackers to execute commands remotely without authentication, granting deep system access. The US cybersecurity agency CISA also issued an alert, noting that attackers were exploiting these vulnerabilities worldwide.

Fixed, for now

Citrix has released software updates to address the vulnerabilities, and the NCSC reports that the issues have been resolved. It urges affected organisations to install the patches promptly and continue monitoring for suspicious activity. Frisius MC reported that its systems were fully restored, and other hospitals are bringing services back online.

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A recurring weak point

This is not the first time NetScaler has caused issues in the Netherlands. Last year, the public prosecution service (OM) disconnected its systems from the internet for over two months after hackers exploited a vulnerability in the same software, in what the NCSC described as a sophisticated attack. The continued vulnerability of such widely used infrastructure is concerning, especially amid repeated warnings from Dutch intelligence services that cyber threats are increasing. While the immediate inconvenience for patients was limited, the broader concern is the reliance of critical Dutch infrastructure on software frequently targeted by attackers.

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Entering the job market is becoming more difficult for young people in the Netherlands. According to staffing firm Randstad, demand for entry-level and junior staff is declining faster than demand for the overall workforce. While some attribute this to artificial intelligence, Randstad identifies the cooling economy as the primary cause.

The figures

Vacancies for entry-level roles are now over 30 percent lower than in 2022, when the Dutch labour market was at its tightest. Since then, demand for young workers has declined more sharply than for mid-level or senior staff. When hiring slows, young people are affected first and most significantly.

Is it AI?

As AI becomes more prominent in workplaces, some attribute the decline in entry-level jobs to this technology. However, Randstad’s labour-market analyst, Bart van Krimpen, disagrees. He stated it is “far too simplistic” to claim AI is eliminating entry-level jobs on a large scale. He suggests the more likely cause is the cooling labour market, which tends to impact young people first, as their unemployment rates fluctuate more sharply with economic changes.

However, he did not dismiss AI entirely. Demand for junior staff is declining faster than average in IT and administrative roles, which are expected to see the greatest productivity gains from AI. A separate study by Intelligence Group found no clear evidence that AI is directly increasing youth unemployment, but it is subtly shifting hiring away from juniors in knowledge-intensive fields such as law, administration, and marketing, where entry-level vacancies have dropped by 30 to over 40 percent in recent years.

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A pipeline problem

Both Randstad and Intelligence Group highlight a long-term risk: companies that stop hiring and training young people now jeopardise their future talent pipeline. As the Dutch workforce ages and labour shortages increase, the demand for young talent will rise. Researchers warn that limiting intake for short-term reasons undermines future workforce needs.

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The wider concern

The report identifies additional concerns beyond hiring. After years of increased labour participation, the number of people not in work is stabilising. Among young people leaving education, a growing proportion is becoming inactive, and youth unemployment has risen. More people are also leaving the workforce because of illness or by entering the WIA disability-benefit scheme. Although young people are not the largest group leaving the workforce, their numbers are rising most rapidly. Randstad notes that only one in five people exiting the WIA return to work, which is particularly concerning.

Jeroen Tiel, head of Randstad Groep Nederland, described supporting young people in finding and retaining work as “an enormous social responsibility.” He argued that vulnerable youth and the long-term sick represent a growing pool of untapped labour, which, in an economy with structural staff shortages, “is simply no longer defensible.” For young jobseekers, the immediate challenge is a more competitive market for entry-level positions. For employers, this serves as a warning not to restrict opportunities for the next generation.

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The Dutch government has introduced new regulations for pet owners that affect both cats and dogs. Starting in 2028, microchipping cats will be mandatory. Owners of certain high-risk dog breeds may also be required to complete a behaviour course or face stricter penalties if their dog bites someone. These measures were announced by State Secretary for Agriculture Silvio Erkens (VVD).

Chipping cats

The cat microchipping rule addresses the high number of missing cats in the Netherlands, estimated at 62,500 annually. Currently, only about 10 percent are recovered by animal welfare organisations such as the Dierenbescherming; most remain on the street. In contrast, since microchipping became mandatory for dogs, approximately 90 percent of found dogs are reunited with their owners.

A microchip is a small transponder implanted under the skin that lets a scanner read a unique registration number. From 1 January 2028, newborn cats must be microchipped, with owners responsible for the procedure and veterinarians handling registration. The government will reimburse the cost, estimated at 25 to 55 euros. This measure aligns with upcoming European regulations on pet welfare and traceability, and supports the EU’s plan for a cross-border pet database by 2031.

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Courses for dog owners

The new dog regulations aim to reduce biting incidents. Erkens proposes a mandatory course for owners of high-risk breeds to ensure they can keep their dogs “safe,” stating that “holders of this group of dogs have an extra responsibility.” The specific breeds or characteristics covered will be determined in a proposal expected in early 2027, based on data from previous bite incidents. The Netherlands has maintained a list of high-risk dogs since 2017.

Owners who do not complete the course may face higher penalties if their dog bites a person or another animal. The legal framework and enforcement methods are still under consideration, and veterinarians may be involved. Additionally, Erkens plans to introduce a “voluntary, low-threshold” theory course in 2027 for all new and current dog owners to promote basic knowledge. A campaign this autumn will help prospective owners select suitable dogs. Owners will pay for the course.

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A note of caution

Comprehensive data on serious bite incidents is lacking. Erkens has acknowledged this gap, which led to the establishment of a national reporting point for dog bites in January. International research indicates that owner-related factors are more significant than breed in determining risk, and breed bans in other countries have not clearly reduced incidents. This evidence, along with concerns that mandatory courses may primarily affect responsible owners rather than negligent ones, will likely influence the ongoing debate.

These plans follow recent serious incidents, including a case in Zoetermeer where police shot a dog after it attacked its owners. For pet owners, the immediate requirements are clear: from 2028, new kittens must be microchipped, and dog ownership regulations will become stricter.

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Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten used his first address to the United Nations General Assembly to defend the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague against potential US sanctions. He also adopted a more conciliatory approach regarding a separate dispute with Washington over the Dutch chip-machine maker ASML.

‘Hands off the ICC’

Speaking in New York on Thursday, Jetten strongly advocated for international legal institutions, without naming the United States. “Hands off the ICC, and all those other institutions that protect the international legal order,” he told world leaders, receiving loud applause. “How can you possibly be opposed to prosecuting the very worst crimes?”

He emphasised that the issue extends beyond the Netherlands. Attempts to undermine the ICC, “established in my country, in my city,” he said, affect “us all,” and impunity is unacceptable. According to NOS, Jetten has asked Brussels to prepare countermeasures so the EU can respond quickly and firmly if the US imposes sanctions on the court. He also stated that the Netherlands is using “all diplomatic resources” to ensure the court can continue its work without obstruction.

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The context

The speech was a direct, though unnamed, response to US President Donald Trump, who had recently criticised the ICC in his UN address, calling it an “out of control” and “rogue institution” and urging member states to withdraw. Washington, which is not an ICC member, objects primarily to the court’s 2024 arrest warrants for Israeli leaders over the war in Gaza and to an earlier ICC inquiry into US forces in Afghanistan. The US has already sanctioned several of the court’s judges and prosecutors. This is a highly contested international issue with sharply differing views, and this article does not take a position.

Jetten’s speech also addressed broader issues. He invoked Anne Frank, called for increased representation of African, Asian, and Latin American countries at the UN, including more African seats on the Security Council, and advocated for holding Russia accountable for its war in Ukraine. The Netherlands has offered to support prosecution through a special tribunal in The Hague.

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A softer line on ASML

On a separate issue with Washington, Jetten adopted a notably different tone. The dispute centres on the “Match Act,” a US congressional proposal urging allies to tighten controls on chip technology exports to China. If no agreement is reached, the US could impose new restrictions, potentially affecting ASML’s DUV machines, the company’s second-most-advanced systems. ASML’s most advanced EUV machines have never been approved for sale to China.

Jetten expressed optimism about resolving the dispute. “I am confident that we will reach an agreement that works for everyone,” he told Bloomberg TV, noting he had held “many conversations” with Trump and members of Congress. He emphasised that the Netherlands already enforces “stricter export controls on ASML than anywhere else in the world” to protect the technology and prevent China from dominating the chip industry, but does so “in a balanced way.” These two disputes highlight how decisions in Washington can significantly impact the Netherlands, which hosts both the world’s war crimes court and Europe’s most valuable tech company.

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The Netherlands will host the UCI Road World Championships in 2034, staged across the northern provinces of Groningen and Drenthe. It will be the first time the country has held cycling’s premier road event since 2012, and a long-cherished dream for a region that had to wait two years longer than it hoped to secure it.

How the decision came about

The International Cycling Union (UCI) announced the decision on Wednesday at its congress in Montreal, where this year’s championships are being held. Groningen and Drenthe had originally bid to host the 2032 edition, competing against the Indian city of Pune. In the end, the UCI awarded 2032 to Pune, but, impressed by the strength of the Dutch bid, it resolved the contest by handing the north the 2034 championships instead, a compromise its president, David Lappartient, called a good solution given that both regions had submitted strong proposals. The Netherlands will also host the para-cycling world championships that year.

Securing it meant fast footwork. A high-level delegation, including the mayor of Groningen and provincial commissioners, travelled to Canada to present the final plans, and had to get every municipality in both provinces to recommit at short notice from 2032 to 2034.

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What is planned

The organisers have ambitious ideas for the course. The wish is for the racing, spread over roughly eight days, to pass through every municipality in Groningen and Drenthe, showcasing the whole region. Current plans have the road races running through those municipalities with a finish in Groningen’s Stadspark, while the time trials would start and finish at the TT circuit in Assen, the motorsport venue. The programme is expected to span juniors, under-23s and professionals, for both men and women, across time trials, the mixed relay and the road races, closing with the traditional showpiece, the elite men’s road race.

The scale is considerable. The championships draw an average of around 500,000 spectators on the ground and some 250 million television viewers worldwide. For the organisers, that global audience is much of the point. “The main thing is that it happens, so tens of millions of television viewers can see what the northern provinces have to offer,” said Groningen provincial executive member Marian van Dijken.

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The funding question

The total cost is estimated at around 30 million euros, of which 20 million comes from Nij Begun, the programme set up to repair and strengthen the region after decades of gas-extraction earthquakes. That contribution has drawn some debate, with several provincial politicians questioning whether earthquake-recovery money should pay for a sporting event. Nij Begun and the organisers argue it fits: the money comes not from the damage-repair fund itself but from a separate pot meant to make the region more attractive, and they say a global event can boost regional pride, tourism and the northern economy.

For the north, it is a rare turn in the international spotlight. The bid’s ambassador, the Dutch cyclist Bauke Mollema, who learned to ride on exactly these roads, called it “a dream”. The last time the Worlds were held in the Netherlands, in Valkenburg in 2012, Philippe Gilbert and Marianne Vos rode to victory on home soil. In 2034, the north will get its turn.

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Artificial intelligence is enabling faster, larger, and more accessible cyberattacks, expanding the pool of potential attackers. Seven Dutch government and security organisations have jointly urged business and institutional leaders to prioritise cybersecurity.

Issuing Organisations and Key Messages

The statement is signed by the General Intelligence and Security Service (AIVD), the Military Intelligence and Security Service (MIVD), the National Coordinator for Counterterrorism and Security (NCTV), the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), the police, the Public Prosecution Service (OM), and CIO Rijk, the central government’s IT organisation.

Their main message is that AI “accelerates and enlarges” the threat. Attackers primarily use AI to automate, expedite, and refine their methods, making attacks more sophisticated and harder to detect. AI also enables faster identification and exploitation of vulnerabilities.

Lowering the Barrier to Entry

The key concern is that AI lowers the threshold for conducting cyberattacks. Previously, advanced attacks required significant skill and resources; now, AI enables a wider range of individuals to carry them out. The agencies emphasise that attackers do not need the most advanced AI models to cause harm; commonly available AI tools are already sufficient.

In practice, attackers use AI to develop malicious software (malware) that steals or encrypts data and to create convincing phishing emails that deceive individuals into revealing passwords or personal information. This trend aligns with earlier findings from Dutch investigators, whose report noted that ready-made tools and AI are enabling even inexperienced criminals to conduct complex attacks.

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A message for boardrooms

The joint public appeal aims to shift responsibility for digital resilience beyond IT departments and security specialists. In an open letter, the organisations urge directors and executives to “take responsibility and give priority to cybersecurity,” emphasising that it is a leadership issue, not one to be delegated or overlooked.

The consequences of inadequate cybersecurity are well known. Agencies highlight prolonged outages of critical systems after breaches and the impact on citizens whose personal data is stolen, reflecting recent data breaches affecting Dutch companies and customers. They also note that some damage may only become apparent long after an initial incident.

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Their advice is practical: keep systems updated, address known vulnerabilities promptly, and integrate security into organisational operations. As attack tools become more accessible and affordable, they stress that defence must keep pace.

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The Dutch government has set out a roadmap for how the Netherlands can move away from oil, coal and gas, making it the second country in the world, after France, to publish such a plan. But while environmental groups have welcomed the step, they say it is missing the one thing that matters most: a date by which the phase-out should be complete.

What the roadmap is

The plan was presented on Prinsjesdag, the Netherlands’ Budget Day, and is timed to feed into the run-up to the UN Climate Change Conference (COP31), which takes place in Turkey in November. It sets out, in detail, how the country could reduce and ultimately end its dependence on fossil fuels across the economy, and it positions the Netherlands as one of the few governments willing to sketch out that transition on paper at all.

Publishing it places the Netherlands among few nations. France was the first to create a similar roadmap, and the Dutch version follows that trend, supporting a broader movement driven by European and other countries to explicitly include the phase-out of oil, gas, and coal in climate policies, rather than merely implying it through emissions goals.

The central criticism: no end date

The sharpest criticism has focused on what the plan left out. The French version sets concrete target years for the phase-out: coal by 2030, oil by 2045 and gas by 2050. By contrast, the Dutch roadmap names no deadline for ending the use of any fossil fuel.

Critics see that as a serious gap. “You can call it a roadmap, but then you don’t know where the route is going,” said Maarten de Zeeuw of Greenpeace, in comments to the newspaper Trouw. Climate professor Joyeeta Gupta echoed this, calling the plan “not good enough”. They argue that without firm dates, a roadmap offers direction in name only and cannot be held to account or measured against progress.

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The government’s stance

The government frames the roadmap as a meaningful step in its own right, and as consistent with a broader international effort it is helping to lead. Climate minister Stientje van Veldhoven, of D66, has been the public face of that effort. Alongside Colombia, the Netherlands earlier this year co-organised the first international conference dedicated specifically to phasing out fossil fuels, held in Santa Marta, and the roadmap fits that agenda of turning the general pledge, made at earlier UN summits, to “move away from” fossil fuels into something more concrete.

Officials have also acknowledged the limits of what can be done quickly. A full, detailed transition cannot be worked out overnight, a spokesperson for the minister said, and the aim for now is to map the country’s fossil-fuel dependence and the ways to reduce it more clearly than before.

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The wider tension

Over the same period, the government has maintained support for gas, including the prospect of further drilling under the North Sea, and extended fuel-tax discounts, even as it champions a fossil phase-out abroad. Critics point to that gap between international ambition and domestic reality, and it will likely shape the debate as the Netherlands heads towards COP31 in November.

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The Netherlands will build its first national AI supercomputer in Groningen, the centrepiece of a 201 million euro project meant to give the country its own capacity to develop artificial intelligence. It will be installed at a data centre in the northern city, as part of a plan that also carries a notable strand of local history.

What is being built

The machine will form the computing heart of the “Dutch AI factory”, a facility where researchers, companies, educational institutions and governments can develop and train their own AI tools rather than relying on foreign providers. The IT cooperative SURF, acting for the consortium behind the project, has chosen to house the supercomputer at Eurofiber’s data centre on the University of Groningen’s Zernike Campus, picked over two other candidate sites. It is due to be installed in 2027 and fully operational by early 2028.

The supercomputer is one half of the project. The other is an expertise centre, already underway, in the historic former Niemeyer tobacco factory in Groningen, where a team of AI specialists will help businesses and institutions use the computing power. A supercomputer handles calculations too large for an ordinary machine, using many powerful processors linked together, and is used for everything from weather forecasting to scientific research and training heavy AI models.

An unusual source of funding

Of the 201 million euros in public money, 71 million comes from EuroHPC, the EU’s supercomputing agency, which chose the Netherlands as one of six new AI-factory sites across Europe in October 2025. The Dutch government is contributing 70 million. The final 60 million comes from Nij Begun, the state recovery programme set up to repair Groningen and northern Drenthe after decades of earthquakes caused by gas extraction. In effect, money intended to help a region long scarred by the downside of one era’s energy economy is being used to give it a stake in the next.

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Why the Netherlands wants it

The world’s most powerful supercomputers are in China and the United States, and Europe’s strongest runs in Germany. The government concluded that this left the Netherlands too dependent on other countries for a technology now central to the economy, and decided to invest in its own capacity. The University of Groningen and the UMCG hospital both backed hosting it locally and will contribute expertise; the UMCG, for instance, expects to use it to analyse hospital data to better predict which treatment suits each patient.

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A machine built for the region, with a catch

The project leans on Groningen’s strengths as an emerging data-centre hub. Almost all of the facility’s waste heat is to be fed into the city’s WarmteStad district heating network, and no surface or drinking water will be used for cooling.

SURF warned in August that the soaring global cost of AI hardware, driven by big technology firms’ spending on processors, memory and storage, means the roughly 64 million euros set aside for the computer itself no longer buys what it would have eighteen months ago. As a result, the supercomputer will be less powerful than originally planned, a small sign of just how fierce the worldwide race for AI computing has become.

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Around a third of areas in the Netherlands have PFAS “forever chemicals” in their tap water at levels above what health experts consider safe, according to a new analysis, prompting renewed calls from water companies to ban the chemicals in pesticides.

What the analysis found

The environmental group Greenpeace examined data for every postcode in the country and found that in 32 percent of areas, the drinking water contains PFAS at levels at least 1.5 times the recommended safe level. It has published the findings as an online tool, with a map, that lets households check how much PFAS is in the water where they live.

The highest concentrations are in the provinces of Noord-Holland, Zuid-Holland and Zeeland, with towns such as Zaandam, Purmerend and IJmuiden recording 14.3 nanograms per litre. The northern provinces of Drenthe, Friesland and Groningen, by contrast, show almost no PFAS in their drinking water.

The differences lie in where the water is supplied from. As Patricia van der Linden of Vewin, the association of Dutch drinking water suppliers, explained, the west of the country draws its supply from rivers and reservoirs, which are more polluted than the groundwater used in rural areas. “In places where we use surface water for drinking water, we have to take more steps to purify the water,” she said.

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Safe now, but above the advisory level

None of the water supplies exceeds the legal limit set by the European Union, so the tap water is not unsafe to drink under the law. The figures show that a third of areas exceed the RIVM’s stricter advisory limit of 4.4 nanograms per litre, a precautionary guideline the public health institute lowered in 2023 after new evidence showed PFAS affect the immune system more than previously thought.

PFAS is the collective name for thousands of highly durable synthetic chemicals used in everything from packaging and waterproof clothing to non-stick pans. They are prized by industry precisely because they barely break down, but prolonged exposure is linked to an increased risk of cancer, immune-system problems, reduced fertility and harm to unborn children. A recent RIVM study found that almost everyone in the Netherlands already has unhealthy levels of PFAS in their blood.

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Where it is coming from, and the call to act

The environment inspectorate (ILT) recently pointed to a fast-growing source: the pesticide breakdown product TFA (trifluoroacetic acid), whose use in farming, notably potato growing, has almost doubled in two years, with around two tonnes reaching the water supply annually. In light of the new data, water companies have repeated their call to ban PFAS in pesticides.

The Netherlands, together with Germany and the Scandinavian countries, has been lobbying since early 2023 for an EU-wide ban on PFAS. Experts argue that tackling the chemicals one at a time is not enough. “We can see that banning individual types of PFAS makes a difference,” an RIVM spokesman said, “but really the whole group should be banned.” For now, the tap water remains legal to drink, but the pressure to turn off the source of the pollution is growing.

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The United States is reportedly preparing to impose sanctions on the International Criminal Court (ICC) as a whole, a move that sources say could choke off the court’s money and bring its war-crimes investigations to a halt. Because the court sits in The Hague, the Netherlands, as its host country, is bracing for the fallout and drawing up contingency plans.

What is being prepared

According to sources cited by Reuters, the sanctions could be finalised as early as this week, during the UN General Assembly. US officials have not clearly stated what the measures will contain, but they are said to resemble earlier American penalties against individual ICC officials, who were barred from entering the US, had assets frozen and lost access to services such as Microsoft email overnight.

The Trump administration has previously sanctioned the court’s judges and prosecutors, more than a dozen officials, including half of its sitting judges, but never the institution itself. Sanctioning the entire court would be an unprecedented step against a permanent international tribunal, and would generally bar American companies from providing it with funds or services.

Why it could be so damaging

Some of the practical effects could be severe. Certain services can be swapped out; the court has already moved from Microsoft to a German software provider in anticipation. But money is harder. Many cross-border payments run through the American firms Visa and Mastercard, and major European banks also operate in the US and so must follow its rules, which could disrupt the court’s ability to pay staff and protected witnesses.

Geert-Jan Knoops, a defence lawyer who works at the ICC, warned of the human consequences. If the court can no longer pay people, “we as lawyers no longer get paid,” he told RTL, adding that ongoing investigations could be put in danger and criminal cases might no longer be able to proceed, cases that include alleged war crimes in Ukraine and Gaza.

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Why Washington is acting

The US does not recognise the ICC, has never joined it, and does not extradite Americans to The Hague. Its conflict with the court centres on two issues: the arrest warrants the ICC issued in 2024 for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant over the war in Gaza (warrants Israel strongly rejects), and an earlier ICC inquiry into the conduct of US forces in Afghanistan. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has described the court as a threat to US sovereignty and its allies, and Washington has asked member states to withdraw their support. The ICC, which has 125 member states, has said it stands by its staff and will continue its work.

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The Dutch position

The Netherlands has a longstanding role and reputation as host to the world’s international legal institutions. Dutch officials have been told the sanctions are imminent and, according to diplomatic sources, are examining ways to help the court keep functioning, including maintaining payments to staff and witnesses and security at its detention centre. The Dutch foreign minister, David van Weel, has said the Netherlands supports the court and its staff, and that international courts must be able to carry out their mandates freely.

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The Dutch national police will stop organising religious celebrations for people outside the force, the police have announced, in a change intended to safeguard the force’s political and religious neutrality. The new rule takes effect on 1 January 2027.

What is changing, and what is not

The change is narrower than it might first sound, and the police have been careful to state the boundaries. What ends is the police organising religious events themselves for and with members of the public. Exactly which events fall under the rule is not yet fully clear.

Several things continue unchanged. Internal gatherings with a religious character remain permitted, such as marking Christmas or Hanukkah, or events during Ramadan. And individual officers may still attend religious celebrations organised by others, whether Christmas, Ramadan, Easter, Hanukkah, Diwali, Purim or Holi-Phagwa, which the police say contributes to their work. Under the revised code, however, officers attending such events, whether in uniform or in plain clothes, may not themselves perform religious or ritual acts.

The police’s reasoning

Police chief Janny Knol framed the decision as a balance between community engagement and impartiality. “Contact with residents, communities and social partners is indispensable for us as police,” she said. “It contributes to trust, prevention and de-escalation and is therefore essential for good police work.”

At the same time, she argued, the force must avoid any confusion about where it stands. “If we ourselves organise gatherings with a religious character, then beliefs can be taken as our own, and that does not fit with our neutral position. That is why we have chosen to stop doing so from next year.” The move fits within the police’s existing “lifestyle neutrality” code of conduct, under which officers on duty are expected to keep visible expressions of religious, political and other personal conviction out of their work.

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The political background

The decision follows sustained political pressure, a context the bare announcement leaves out. Police-organised iftars, the meals that break the daily fast during Ramadan, had been a particular point of debate. Earlier this year, parties including the PVV, the VVD and the SGP argued in a parliamentary debate with justice minister David van Weel that police neutrality was at stake. Over the summer, a broad majority in parliament backed a motion from JA21 calling on the police not to organise iftars, and the VVD had earlier won support for a call not to have officers attend religious gatherings that “do not accord with a free and secular society”.

According to a letter to parliament from Van Weel, the new arrangements answer those motions, and the code of conduct was adjusted in consultation with him. The minister welcomed the measures, saying he and the police chief both attach great value to police neutrality.

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A recurring debate

The neutrality of civil servants and police officers is a regularly recurring subject in Dutch public and political debate, touching on questions of religious dress, expression and the relationship between the state and belief. This latest change, coming amid a charged national conversation about religion, identity and secularism, will likely be read very differently by different people. It takes effect at the start of next year.

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The Netherlands is failing the asylum-seeking children in its emergency shelters so badly that it has “fallen below the minimum standard”, the independent Dutch Safety Board has warned in a new report, saying the conditions endanger children and breach international treaties.

A damning verdict

“The Netherlands has fallen below the minimum standard,” said Chris van Dam, chair of the Safety Board (Onderzoeksraad voor Veiligheid, OVV), the independent body that investigates how serious safety risks arise. Its report concerns the roughly 7,000 children living in emergency asylum shelters (noodopvang) and crisis shelters, temporary places used because there are not enough regular reception spaces. In practice, that means children are housed on ships, in converted event halls and in empty office buildings.

The board describes conditions it considers harmful to children. Privacy is almost nonexistent, with rooms often separated only by partitions, and children experience noise and a complete lack of stability. It warns that children in these settings run a heightened risk of being confronted with physical and sexual violence, including abuse and other transgressive behaviour, and that shower and toilet facilities are frequently inadequate.

Constant upheaval

A key issue is the frequency of children's relocations. Since emergency placements are temporary, some children are moved multiple times within a brief period, with the maximum reaching up to ten moves. That churn makes normal schooling almost impossible and denies children any sense of security, while gaps in healthcare mean some miss vaccinations or are not screened for infectious diseases. Long stays compound the damage: children remain in emergency shelter on average around eight months, well beyond the six-month maximum that is supposed to apply.

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Years of warnings, no improvement

This is not a new issue. Inspectorates first sounded the alarm about the situation of asylum children in 2023, and have repeated their warnings since, most recently concluding they saw “insufficient improvement”. Yet rather than easing, the problem has grown: since those earlier warnings, the number of children in emergency shelters has nearly doubled, from around 4,000 in 2023 to more than 7,000 now.

The board is clear that this is a solvable problem being left unsolved. In the short term, it says, an inventory should be made of all unsafe places in emergency shelters, which should then be fixed, and where they cannot be, the children moved. Above all, it argues, there must be a firm maximum limit on how long a child can be kept in emergency shelter, and the country’s heavy reliance on such shelter must be structurally wound down.

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The wider picture

The report lands in the midst of an ongoing national debate about asylum, and it does not take a political side: its focus is squarely on the safety of the children. Dependence on emergency shelter, at the core of the issue, continues to increase rather than decrease. Alongside its findings, the board published an open letter to all municipal councillors in the Netherlands, asking them to discuss what their own municipalities can do to help improve children’s safety, a sign that it sees responsibility as shared across the whole country, not resting with central government alone.

For the children concerned, the board’s message is blunt: the longer this continues, the greater the harm to their development, and the Netherlands is already below the line it should never have crossed.

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Moving a single room in the Netherlands can cost proportionally more than moving a house, a consequence of how the Dutch moving industry prices its work rather than of the distance or volume involved.

Full-service Dutch moving companies typically quote €80 to €120 per hour with a three- or four-hour minimum. That structure is built around household relocations, where a crew genuinely works most of a day. Applied to an expat or student’s room - a mattress, a desk, a few boxes - the minimum can bill several hours for under two hours of work.

The segment this affects is not small. International students and expats arriving in the Netherlands overwhelmingly begin in single rooms and studios, and the short fixed-term contracts common in that part of the rental market mean they move more often than average tenants.

Their alternative is usually to rent a van. That carries its own barriers: a driving license that’s valid in the Netherlands, a high deposit, willingness to drive a large vehicle through a Dutch city centre, and a free weekend day from two or three friends.

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“There’s a gap where you have too much to carry yourself and not enough to justify a moving company,” said Mihai Tulbure, who founded the moving service MoverMate while studying at the University of Twente and now runs it alongside a Master’s at Erasmus University Rotterdam. “Most people I move had assumed their only options were the expensive one or the exhausting one.”

Tulbure said the pattern is visible in when the work arrives: demand concentrates at the end of the month and around the August and September intake, rather than spreading evenly across the year.

MoverMate, a NIWO-licensed van-and-driver moving service operating across 24 Dutch cities, has added short-term storage to its service, aimed at a recurring problem in the Dutch rental market: tenants whose old contract ends before their new one begins.

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The mayors of the Netherlands’ four largest cities have made a joint public appeal to the government, warning that homelessness in their municipalities is rising sharply and that the situation on the streets is deteriorating fast.

The appeal

In an open letter, the mayors of Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht, Femke Halsema, Carola Schouten, Jan van Zanen and Sharon Dijksma, together known as the G4, said the number of homeless people is increasing “dramatically”, along with the number of complaints about nuisance. They describe seeing people sleeping on benches, in parks, in doorways and under any shelter they can find, many of them “confused, addicted and visibly desperate”.

Their framing is as much moral as practical. “In our wealthy Netherlands, people should not have to sleep on the streets or be left to their own devices in the most miserable circumstances,” they wrote, warning that public spaces risk degrading to a level “that does not fit the Netherlands”.

What they are asking for

The mayors set out several concrete requests, amounting to around 100 million euros a year in extra funding. The largest part is for shelter capacity, to address a national shortage of places. They want structural funding for the shelter of homeless EU labour migrants raised from 13 to 20 million euros through 2028, a group that often falls through the cracks because they lose their housing along with their job. They also call for cuts to mental healthcare to be reversed, and for more money for the persistent outreach care that tries to reach people who are hard to help.

They add one notable condition of their own: that a person’s regional ties should be a requirement for shelter, so that homeless people do not become concentrated in the big cities alone.

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A medical request on crack

In the 1980s and 1990s, when heroin was the dominant addiction among homeless people, methadone offered a way to bring it under control. For crack cocaine, now common on the streets, no equivalent standard substitute exists. The mayors point to research suggesting that treatment with the medicine dexamphetamine can help users cut down or quit, and they have explicitly asked health minister Sophie Hermans for permission to launch a specialised pilot programme using it in the big cities. It is a request to treat addiction as a medical condition rather than simply a matter of public order.

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The wider context

The appeal comes amid growing strain in Dutch cities, and a live debate about how to respond. Only weeks earlier, Amsterdam’s mayor had warned that homelessness and drug use were putting pressure on city life, and Utrecht’s mayor recently argued that a ban on sleeping rough was actually fuelling more nuisance rather than solving it. The tension between compassion and public order runs through the whole issue.

There is also a broader question of approach. Some Dutch municipalities, such as Den Bosch, have shifted to a “Housing First” (Wonen Eerst) model, giving people a home first and support afterwards, and report that average stays in emergency shelter have fallen sharply as a result. Advocates of that approach argue that homelessness is fundamentally a housing problem, made far worse by the country’s severe housing shortage, rather than only a care problem. For the four mayors, the immediate priority is money and permission to act; the deeper solutions run straight into the housing crisis that shapes so much of Dutch life.

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A KLM flight from Amsterdam to Curaçao was forced to turn back to Schiphol on Thursday after a passenger’s powerbank burst into flames over the Atlantic Ocean, in the second such incident on a KLM aircraft in the space of a year.

What happened

The Boeing 777, flight KL735, had departed Schiphol on Thursday afternoon and was already out over the Atlantic when the portable battery caught fire in the cabin. According to KLM, the cabin crew quickly brought the blaze under control, acting in line with the airline’s procedures, but the pilots decided, as a precaution, to return to Amsterdam rather than continue. By then the aircraft had been in the air for several hours. One man suffered light burns, and passengers were rebooked onto other flights, though KLM said it was not certain everyone could be accommodated on the next service to Curaçao.

A complaint later filed with KLM by another passenger, seen by De Telegraaf, described the fire's severity in stark terms, saying there were “flames up to the ceiling”.

A former KLM boss?

Much of the attention has focused on who was charging the device. According to multiple sources cited by NU.nl and De Telegraaf, the powerbank belonged to a former KLM director, whom several outlets have named as Camiel Eurlings. Eurlings, a former Christian Democrat politician and minister of transport, briefly led KLM around a decade ago. Sources told NU.nl he had been sitting in business class and had fallen asleep while the powerbank was charging.

It is worth treating the identification with some care: it rests on anonymous sources, and KLM has said it will not confirm the identity of the passenger involved, citing privacy. Reached by one broadcaster, Eurlings did not immediately give a full response.

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The rules on powerbanks

Beyond the personalities, the incident is a pointed reminder of rules that many travellers overlook. Powerbanks contain lithium-ion batteries that can overheat and catch fire, so airlines treat them with caution. On KLM flights, passengers may carry a maximum of two powerbanks, only in hand luggage, and they may not be stored in the overhead lockers. Using or charging a powerbank during the flight is not permitted at all, precisely so that any problem is spotted immediately. “Always keep yours with you,” the airline advises.

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This is the second powerbank incident on a KLM flight in around a year. Last year, an overheating powerbank in a backpack caused smoke in the cabin of a KLM aircraft flying from São Paulo to Amsterdam, roughly four hours before landing; that fire, too, was extinguished on board.

KLM says it is investigating Thursday’s incident, and that it is too early to say more. For passengers, the takeaway is simpler: keep your powerbank in the cabin with you, and do not try to charge it in the air.