Yeah I mean, that’s the thing with marijuana legislation in the Netherlands in general - it’s not legal in the first place. It would, of course, be preferable if it was actually legal (and this might very well be a step on the road to get there), but yes, in practical terms, there’s not too much impact - whereas this plan addresses an actual problem, i.e. criminality involved with the drug supply of coffee shops.

Home-grown was already possible. What do you see as the problem with this plan?

…but Austria is in the EU though?

How can a platform - in general, not just meta - provide a “free” service, without monetizing it with targeted advertising?

One option would be contextual advertising, rather than advertising based on tracking the user.

(Contextual, as in: if you’re looking at a Formula 1 community, you might be interested in car-related products.)

Haha yeah fair enough, he got a majority of electors (I think that’s the right term?), but not of the popular vote, which is what counts in the Netherlands - another sign of how different the electoral systems are. But yeah, the larger point is that the level of popular support is way lower.

Reminder: 2021 was not a normal year, due to the pandemic, and emissions have risen again afterwards, IIRC. The trendline is good, but comparing these specific years doesn’t paint the clearest picture.

At least it was wrong about Timmermans 😅

Would have to be both. I guess technically that’s an option, in that it might make it more palatable for VVD+NSC, but then we’re at a five-party coalition (six if you count GL/PvdA as two parties).

Those 15 additional seats would have to come from voters who did not vote for him, getting angry about him not governing. If they wanted him in the government, why didn’t they vote for him?

And this is especially true in the case of NSC, who’ve said multiple times beforehand that they’d rather not govern with PVV. If you voted for them, you can’t (and probably wouldn’t) really be mad at them for doing what they said they’d do.

And D66, otherwise they won’t have a majority. Though the Senate (Eerste Kamer) I think will still be a challenge.

At the same time, people are bound to compare it to e.g. Trump, who actually got a majority. It’s good to know that our electoral system works differently, if you’re unfamiliar with it.

Well, that’s not set in stone yet. If he doesn’t manage to form a coalition (and it’s very much in the realm of possibilities that he won’t be able to), the GreenLeft-Labour Party is next in line. In which case a GL-PvdA/VVD/NSC/D66 coalition (parties #2-#5) is not unlikely. Which I’m guessing would have to make some concessions when it comes to migration, but would probably be OK-ish news for the EU, the climate, and democracy and rule of law.

That was a way to walk back on her former statement that she wouldn’t join a Wilders government. It meant that she didn’t think he’d convince other parties to join his coalition.

Which mostly depends on NSC. We’ll see what they do, but I can imagine negotiations stranding and Timmermans getting a shot.

SP did that, and look where that got them.

I mean, how many people do you need? Surely if you can pick from all the women in Spain, you should be able to find 11 competent ones?

They might be, but the signs so far have not been in that direction: here’s Omtzigt saying he’d rather have a right-wing minority government over GL-PvdA, and here’s him playing up how hard he thinks it would be to govern with them.

I’d be interested in knowing which coalition your colleague is thinking of, but when coalition negotiations don’t work out, it’s pretty much impossible to point fingers to a specific party - clearly none of the parties were prepared to give more concessions.

If PvdA-GL comes out on top, there is a chance for them to form a coalition with all the left-wing parties and one centre party. According to survezs most leftist Dutch people are aware of this and consider a tactical vote for PvdA-GL to get a more left leaning government.

I don’t think there’s a big-enough centre party that would go for that, and I don’t think that’s what GL-PvdA is aiming for either. Rather, if they don’t come out on top, what’s likely to happen is that the right and centre-right parties would try (and probably succeed) to form a coalition together. If they do come out on top, GL-PvdA will instead replace one or two of those parties in that coalition, going for something like GL-PvdA/VVD/NSC.

And then, of course, the question is what will happen to them in the elections after that. But I’m sure the PvdA is very aware of what might happen.

Meanwhile, Wilders, who wants the Netherlands to leave the EU, is currently polling as the number one in some forecasts.

In one forecast. Also the only one that has Timmermans’ parties at #4.

I get the parliamentary kerfuffle, but I kinda mean opposition against secession in general. As I understand it, it wouldn’t so much be like giving Native Americans random swaths of land, but giving the people living on specific swaths of land (which might be mostly Native Americans) that land, and no more influence over how the rest of the land is governed. Sorta like allowing California to become its own country, I suppose - why would other Americans have a problem with that, if the Californians wanted that?

As an ignorant non-Spaniard, can anyone give a quick ELI5 why people are so strongly against the separatism that they show up with 100k+? I can’t imagine getting terribly annoyed at regions wanting to leave my country? Unless it would be my own region, I suppose.