The Dutch parliamentary opposition is demanding Prime Minister Mark Rutte explain why Queen Beatrix is flying to Oman for a private dinner with the country's ruler just days after a state visit was postponed.
Even though the Dutch government called off a three-day state visit by Beatrix to Oman last week after social unrest roiling parts of the Arab world spread to the strategic Gulf state Beatrix will still have a private dinner with Sultan Qaboos bin Said Tuesday night before heading to Qatar on a state visit.
The government's decision to allow the dinner to go ahead has drawn fierce criticism from lawmakers who believe the monarch could be trying to secure an order from Oman for four Dutch-built navy vessels. They say she should avoid a country in social upheaval. According to Dutch daily newspaper De Volkskrant, the trip is going ahead partly under pressure from the corporate sector. This relates among other things to a contract worth some hundreds of millions of euros for four navy vessels for which Damen-Schelde has put in a bid.
Right-wing populist Party for Freedom (PVV) leader Geert Wilders has criticised Beatrix's visit on twitter.com. "It is really stupid for the queen to go and dine with this dictator!" according to Wilders.
EU-Digest
No comments:
Post a Comment