Three city councils in the Netherlands now have a majority in favour of a ban on fireworks in their city councils, nu.nl reports. This is in contrast to the national VVD government, which is as yet refusing to ban fireworks in the whole of the Netherlands.
Rotterdam city council was the first to support a complete ban on fireworks in the Netherlands. They were followed by Amsterdam, and then Eindhoven. In each of these councils, the majority was only made possible when local VVD councillors decided to support the ban. Other parties also supported it. However, the fact that VVD councillors decided to support a ban is significant, because the national VVD party has refused to ban fireworks.
National VVD party is against the ban
VVD party leader Klaas Dijkhoff has said that conversations are going on within government about the possibility of a national ban, but as of right now, the VVD national party are against a total ban on fireworks.
“A completely sterile society”
Even the local VVD councillors that supported citywide bans have expressed hesitations about their decision. In Eindhoven, VVD party leader Joost de Jong said he was “a bit apprehensive about the trend towards a completely sterile society” in an interview with the Eindhovens Dagblad.
Hard to enforce
Although citywide bans are an improvement on this year’s firework chaos, without a national ban they will be very difficult to enforce.
What do you think? Should there be a firework ban in the whole country? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Feature image: Eelco Cramer/Flickr.
Pollution which lasts decades, death (people and animals), accidents, loss of limbs, destruction to property, people and animals in fear..trauma, children with autism, wildlife, indoor pets, refugees, the elderly and all that money wasted in the process.
There should be no question. It is not a big deal in so many other parts of the world.