Loading… As the new millennium dawned, all was going well with the Dutch economy. Average economic growth in 2000 was 3.9%. Other countries were enthusiastic about the Dutch ‘polder model’. But at home the policies of the second ‘purple’ coalition (social democrats and right and left-leaning liberals) were attracting criticism. In May 2000, a huge explosion in Enschede shook the country.
Criticism of ‘purple’ coalition
Religious groups in particular denounced the liberal attitudes of the Kok government, as embodied by its policies on euthanasia and soft drugs. Immigration was another problematic issue: in 1999, 39,299 people applied for asylum; in 2000 the number rose to 49,895.
Fireworks disaster in Enschede
On 13 May 2000, a huge explosion shook the Netherlands. A total of 177 tonnes of fireworks - some of them illegal - blew up on the premises of S.E. Fireworks in Roombeek, a residential area in Enschede. The explosion, which was heard as far as 18 kilometres away, devastated the area. Twenty-two people were killed and 947 injured, 250 of them seriously; 2,400 families lost their homes, and the material damage amounted to 1.21 billion euros.
Reacties
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