quinta-feira, 19 de março de 2026
Resistance to asylum shelters led to far-right gains in municipal elections
Thursday,
19 March 2026 - 09:30
https://nltimes.nl/2026/03/19/resistance-asylum-shelters-led-far-right-gains-municipal-elections
Resistance
to asylum shelters led to far-right gains in municipal elections
Far-right
and local parties seem to have benefited from locals’ resistance to plans to
open an asylum shelter in their municipalities. In various municipalities,
parties opposed to asylum shelters won significantly. The PVV more than doubled
its seats in Terneuzen, where resistance to an asylum shelter ultimately led to
the mayor resigning. And the far-right FvD made the biggest gains in
yesterday’s election.
The PVV
became the biggest party in Terneuzen with 7 seats, up from 3 seats in the
council. The party loudly campaigned against the arrival of an asylum shelter
in the run-up to the election.
A
majority of the Terneuzen municipal council supported opening a shelter for
asylum seekers on an industrial estate, but later decided against it due to
local unrest. In November, Mayor Erik van Merrienboer (PvdA) resigned because
the aldermen, on the advice of the municipality council, refused to grant a
permit for the shelter.
Patrick
van der Hoeff, the PVV lead candidate in Terneuzen, believes his party owes its
victory largely to the opposition to the asylum shelter. “We had counted on a
gain, but did not expect it to be this large,” Van der Hoeff said.
The
anti-asylum PVV became the largest party in Zoetermeer, Papendrecht, Terneuzen,
Pekela, and Stadskanaal. On X, PVV leader Geert Wilders thanked his voters for
the “wonderful results.”
The other
far-right, anti-asylum party, FvD, made massive gains in yesterday’s elections,
partly because it participated in twice as many municipalities as in 2022.
FvD’s votes quadrupled to around 300,000. The party is likely to win one or
more seats in all the municipalities where FvD participated.
In Venlo,
the new local party Venloos Burger Initiatief, which explicitly opposes the
expansion of an asylum shelter, won enough votes to enter the city council with
3 seats. Lead candidate Twan Schroembges told NOS that trust in local politics
must be restored, and that requires listening to the citizens. He said that
Venloos Burger Initiatief will “do everything in its power” to block the
council’s decision to expand the asylum shelter.
In Hoorn,
the local party Hart van Hoorn is the big winner, securing six seats and
doubling its presence in the municipal council. Hart van Hoorn campaigned
against taking in asylum seekers. “No asylum shelter in our municipalities,”
was one of the party’s key points in the campaign.
Prime
Minister Rob Jetten (D66) told ANP that he understands locals’ “frustrations”
regarding the arrival of asylum shelters. “You might think: this is happening
to us, while we ourselves want to have a say in the size of a reception center
or the conditions for asylum accommodation.”
He
stressed that the Cabinet aims to reduce the influx of asylum seekers so that
the Asylum Distribution Act, which obliges municipalities to take in a fair
share of asylum seekers, becomes redundant. He also said that the Cabinet will
“definitely work out” better cooperation between the national government and
municipalities.
Reporting
by ANP and NL Times
Local parties make big gains in elections, turnout rises to 54%
Local
parties make big gains in elections, turnout rises to 54%
March 19,
2026
https://www.dutchnews.nl/2026/03/local-parties-make-big-gains-in-elections-turnout-rises-to-54/
Local
parties were the clear winners in Wednesday’s local elections, taking more than
a third of the vote nationwide.
With most
results counted by early Thursday morning, turnout stood at just over 54%,
slightly higher than at the previous local elections four years ago. Counting
is still under way in Amsterdam and Hoorn.
Local
lists together received about 35.5% of the vote, up from 32.8% last time,
meaning around 2.6 million voters backed a local party. In many councils,
including The Hague, local parties are now the largest or second-largest group,
making it difficult to identify national party trends.
Local
parties performed particularly well in areas where the location of new refugee
centres was an issue. “Anti-refugee feeling gets a face,” said the Volkskrant
in its analysis.
The far
right PVV became the biggest party in Pekela in Groningen, and in Terneuzen
where a refugee centre was the biggest campaign talking point.
One of
the local party biggest victories was in The Hague, where Richard de Mos’s Hart
voor Den Haag increased its share of the vote from nine to 16 seats on the
45-seat council. The result makes it likely the party will take part in the
next coalition after being excluded last time.
Far right
party Forum voor Democratie also made gains, winning seats in most of the 104
councils where it had candidates.
Among
national parties, the coalition performed broadly in line with the previous
election. D66 won about 9% of the vote and gained seats overall, while the VVD
and CDA recorded relatively stable results.
The
GroenLinks-PvdA combination lost votes nationwide but remained the largest
party in most of the biggest cities, including Rotterdam, where it finished
just ahead of populist local party Leefbaar Rotterdam.
Party
leader Jesse Klaver said he was “very proud” that the party had held its ground
in urban areas after a disappointing general election.
Middle East conflict 'spooking the markets' as gas and oil prices jump
From 3h
ago
07.46 GMT
Middle
East conflict 'spooking the markets' as gas and oil prices jump
This
morning’s surge in oil and gas prices, and the slowdown in UK wage growth, are
the main things to watch in the markets today, reports Kathleen Brooks,
research director at XTB:
Brent
crude has hit $113 a barrel, one of its highest levels since the conflict
began. The escalation in the conflict is spooking the market and futures
markets are predicting hefty losses for stocks at the open, as risk sentiment
sours. Oil is driving the bus in this market, and where it goes, risk sentiment
will follow.
Nat gas
prices are surging once more and are higher by 30% after the attacks on Qatar’s
Ras Laffan gas field. This has caused President Donald Trump to call on Israel
and Iran to stop targeting energy sites. However, it will take a lot of
positive sentiment and news flow to calm energy prices today.
The UK
labour market data was not as bad as feared, the unemployment rate remained
steady at 5.2%, and the UK’s labour market was little changed at the start of
the year.
There are
signs that businesses are hiring once more, the ONS has reported an increase of
6,000 payrolled workers in January and estimates a further 20,000 payrolled
workers were added in February. The vacancy rate is stable, with declines in
smaller firms offset by increases in jobs in larger firms. This suggests that
the jobs outlook improved at the start of the year compared to the end of 2025.
The big
news is that UK wages retreated to their lowest level in 5 years, with pay
growth slowing in both the private and public sectors. This is one bright spot
in an otherwise weak outlook for UK inflation. Today’s data continues to
support a BOE who is concerned about the outlook for growth. The Middle East
conflict continues to dominate, and it will take a major deescalation at this
stage to boost market sentiment and bring down energy prices.
10m ago
10.44 GMT
Losses
across European markets
European
stock markets are down across the board this morning.
Germany’s
DAX has dropped by 2.3%, France’s CAC 40 is down 1.7% and Italy’s FTSE Mib and
Spain’s IBEX have both lost 2.2%.
The UK’s
FTSE 100 is little better – now down 1.9% at 10,109 points (-196 points today)
Raffi
Boyadjian, lead market analyst at XM, says:
The brief
spout of optimism earlier in the week has dissipated as the conflict in the
Middle East shows no sign of easing, while the gatherings of the world’s most
important central banks have shunned the spotlight on the fresh inflation
threat facing the global economy.
The
overriding trend of higher energy prices and tighter monetary policy is making
its mark again on the markets, with risk assets crumbling and gold succumbing
to the US dollar’s strength, as investors struggle to see an end to the war.
Israel
struck Iran’s South Pars gas field on Wednesday, which is the world’s largest
natural gas field, triggering an angry retaliation by Tehran. Qatar’s Ras
Laffan Industrial City – the largest LNG plant in the world – came under attack
again, prompting an intervention by the US President.
Posting
on his Truth Social platform, Trump attempted to diffuse the situation by
distancing the US from Israel’s actions, saying America was unaware of those
plans and that “no more attacks will be made by Israel” on South Pars. However,
he also warned Tehran that any new strikes on Qatar’s LNG facility would be met
by a strong response.
Oil and gas prices jump after Iran and Israel attack gasfields
Oil and
gas prices jump after Iran and Israel attack gasfields
Month-ahead
UK wholesale gas price hits highest level since August 2022 as Donald Trump
threatens retaliation
Julia
Kollewe and Graeme Wearden
Thu 19
Mar 2026 09.23 GMT
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/mar/19/oil-prices-gas-prices-rise-iran-israel-donald-trump
Gas
prices jumped and oil prices rose again after an escalation of attacks by
Israel and Iran on gasfields heightened fears of prolonged disruption to
international energy supplies.
Brent
crude, the global oil benchmark, rose by 8% to $116 a barrel. Crude prices have
soared by nearly 60% since US and Israeli attacks on Iran started the war on 28
February.
European
gas prices jumped, with the Dutch wholesale gas price up 24% at €68 a megawatt
hour, its highest since the end of December 2022.
UK gas
prices have more than doubled since late February, and are likely to drive up
household bills. The month-ahead UK wholesale gas price rose by 23% on Thursday
morning to 172p a therm, its highest level since August 2022.
Traders
are responding to the escalation in the Middle East, where Iran stepped up its
attacks on energy facilities, causing significant damage to Ras Laffan – the
world’s largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility in Qatar – in response to
Israel’s attack on its South Pars gasfield.
The
rebound in oil and gas prices triggered a fresh sell-off across stock markets.
In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei tumbled 3.4% while South Korea’s Kospi dropped by 2.7%
and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slid 2%. European markets followed Asia lower, with
the UK’s FTSE 100 down 1.7%, Germany’s Dax down 2.3% and France’s CAC down
1.7%.
Donald
Trump has threatened to “massively blow up” South Pars completely if Iran
attacks Qatar again. Israel’s decision to target the South Pars gasfield was a
significant escalation of the war.
Ras
Laffan in Qatar suffered “extensive damage” after strikes by Iran, the
state-run QatarEnergy giant said. Early on Thursday, QatarEnergy reported
“sizeable fires” and significant damage at several LNG facilities at the hub.
The Qatari interior ministry later said that all fires had been contained.
The
energy company Shell said the attack on Ras Laffan had caused damage to its
Pearl GTL (gas-to-liquids) facility. Shell added the fire was quickly put out,
there were no reported injuries and Pearl is now in a “safe state”, after Iran
attacked the facility in retaliation for the attack on its South Pars gasfield.
Authorities
in Abu Dhabi said it had been forced to shut down operations at its Habshan gas
facility and Bab oilfield because of Iranian attacks.
“Fears of
a sustained energy shock have resurfaced after the escalation in the Iran war
sent oil and gas prices soaring. The prospect of a longer, more drawn-out
conflict is in sharp focus, as both sides ratchet up attacks on energy
infrastructure,” said Susannah Streeter, the chief investment strategist at
Wealth Club.
“Warnings
that oil could reach $150 a barrel have resurfaced. Israel’s attack on Iran’s
gas fields has prompted retaliatory strikes on facilities in Qatar. Europe in
particular is reliant on LNG exports from Qatar, as countries have been weaning
themselves off dependence on Russia. The conflict is not only highly damaging
for economies in the region, with tourism and business activity hit, but the
knock-on effects of higher energy prices will have toxic repercussions
worldwide.”
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