GroenLinks and the Party for the Animals want to discuss their own-initiative bill for a total ban on fireworks with the rest of the House of Representatives as soon as possible. Last year it turned out that there was too little support for a total ban, but the parties now think they have a better chance.
The House of Representatives already debated the plan in June, but many parties wanted to wait until the turn of the year to see whether the ban on firecrackers and arrows would be sufficient to reduce the number of incidents. According to GroenLinks and the Party for the Animals, this is not the case.
GroenLinks leader Jesse Klaver: “How many more victims are we going to accept? New Year’s Eve is no longer a party for many people. Doctors, police officers, the fire brigade: they all want a ban on fireworks because the number of victims is far too high, and the violence surrounding fireworks is enormous. An oil globe, a glass of champagne and enjoying a professional fireworks show with your neighbors, now that’s a party.”
Traditions
Christine Teunissen of the Party for the Animals says that this turn of the year has proven that ‘safe fireworks’ do not exist. “Traditions are valuable, and freedom is a very important value. But freedom for one ends where the safety of the other is at stake. The many accidents, the fear and stress of animals and the air pollution are not traditions to be proud of.”
The cabinet banned firecrackers and arrows in 2020, but the government parties CDA and VVD are not in favor of a total ban. D66 and ChristenUnie seem to be ahead. But there is a lot of resistance in the House of Representatives anyway. GroenLinks and Party for the Animals hope that the CDA may be ‘running’. Many CDA mayors in the country have said they are in favor of a total ban. Earlier, the police also pleaded for this.
How many incidents there were this turn of the year will not be known until Thursday. Then aid agencies will make their figures known. In 2020, before the curtailed corona editions, about thirteen hundred people with fireworks injuries reported to the emergency room.
‘Absurd’
One should not expect a proposal for a fireworks ban from the current cabinet. Minister Dilan Yesilgöz (Justice) finds it ‘absurd’ that aid workers were ‘attacked’ with fireworks at the turn of the year. But the VVD minister hastily says that fireworks are ‘a fine tradition’. And: ,,I hope we can maintain that tradition.” .
And because this also applied to the previous cabinets, a proposal from GroenLinks and the Party for the Animals has been in the House of Representatives for some time. The parties decided today to put that plan back on the agenda, this month. But then some parties will have to change their mind and that has proved to be a tough task in recent years. Although something did change.
A tipping point came in 2019, when the National Police decided on a lobby offensive. After deliberation, the corps management decided that the current rules do not offer any solace. Too many officers were injured in incidents, and there were too many emergency calls in the first place for the already overworked force. And in an attempt to put pressure on the cabinet, the police rallied the support of another 26 organizations, including doctors. It also elaborated on the report of the Dutch Safety Board of two years earlier, which called for a ban on bang fireworks and flares. That was then ignored by the cabinet. The new police offensive for a total ban also failed, because VVD and CDA felt (and do not feel) anything for it. However, a year later in 2020, bang fireworks, Chinese mats and flares were still banned for consumers.
And in light of that move, GroenLinks and the Party for the Animals launched their plan for a ban, which was debated in June of last year. The aftertaste: support for a ban is increasing, but there are not yet enough supporters in the Chamber. After two ‘corona editions’ at the turn of the year, a number of parties wanted to see what the partial ban would mean for the number of incidents. That remains to be seen: only on Thursday will the total overview of injured, damage and the number of beleaguered emergency workers be published.
We think that D66 is already shifting somewhat and can be made even more enthusiastic about a total ban
GroenLinks and the Party for the Animals follow these reports with suspicion, says a spokesman for the latter party. “We think that D66 is already shifting somewhat and can be made even more enthusiastic about a total ban. Perhaps that is also the case with other parties.”
Success is really not guaranteed. The support of ChristenUnie, PvdA and SGP seems to have arrived, but VVD, CDA and SP still seem to be against it. If the latter party is not ‘slide’, the initiators will not dare to put the proposal to the vote. The CDA in particular is being ‘put under pressure’, GroenLinks promises. After all, the parliamentary faction is against a total ban, but many CDA mayors are in favour.
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