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Sander Sassen called the situation incredible and shameless. He wrote that the person involved was behaving as if the Netherlands were an ATM and didn’t even say “please.” He also stated that the prime minister was ready to sign the next donation of billions and asked Rob if that was true. #politiek #Nederland #samenleving (translated)

Maurits Vande Reyde wrote that, in his opinion, tax increases were too obvious in Belgium. He stated that academics, experts, and journalists often defended increases as difficult but inevitable and economically sensible, while political opponents were dismissed as enfant terrible. In Flanders, according to Vande Reyde, within less than two years, registration fees and costs for waste management had been increased, a road tax had been introduced, and various levies had risen, especially for entrepreneurs. The promised reduction of inheritance tax had also been scrapped. No party had announced these measures before the elections, he wrote. Vande Reyde added that, in the meantime, nothing was happening to reduce the state apparatus. According to him, cuts at the federal level were deemed impossible, while the removal of a small amount of Flemish subsidies was portrayed for weeks as an infringement of universal human rights. He also stated that the press regularly presented so-called spontaneous testimonials from people who almost always turned out to be PVDA activists, and that others viewed things differently. #Belastingverhogingen #Vlaanderen #Politiek (translated)

Jan G., the target of a violent attack in Overasselt, has been transferred to a Dutch prison under strict security measures after spending nearly a month in a German cell, and is suspected of involvement in large-scale cocaine smuggling. #JanG #Cocaïne #GeorganiseerdeMisdaad (translated)

Carine Knapen wrote that a Ukrainian suspect in the Nord Stream case in Germany had apparently admitted to acting on behalf of the state under Zelensky. She stated that it was thereby established that Germany and the Netherlands were financing a country that had committed a terrorist attack on their critical infrastructure. #Nordstream #Oekraïne #terreur (translated)

Maurits Vande Reyde wrote that the discussion about which Belgian budget was the least bad, in his opinion, overlooked the seriousness of the situation. He described the Flemish accounts as very bad, the federal budget as hopeless, and that of the French Community, Wallonia, and Brussels as disastrous. According to Vande Reyde, no government had a balanced budget, and debts and interest burdens continued to rise catastrophically everywhere, at the expense of the prosperity of all Belgians. He suggested that a drastic reduction of the state apparatus was the only sustainable solution. At the same time, he wrote, most politicians and a large part of the media advocated for higher taxes, while even small savings were presented as an assault on humanity. #België #begroting #politiek (translated)