Explanation petition
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To economize
The cabinet of Holland has been brought down in a period in which The Hague mean there should be economized a big deal. Somewhere, somehow, they have to find a 29 million euro’s. But where should be found such a big amount of money ? In the month of June people in Holland can cast their vote. There are very many people who think they can economize a big deal by letting merge the provinces in Holland on a large scale.
Opinions of the political parties
At their points of view in the program of elections, D66 means: “There should be less provinces in Holland”. GroenLinks has also as point of view: “There should be strong and democratic legitimized provincial councils by taking together the district water boards and the provinces at a maximum of seven.”
More political parties are tending to let merge the provinces in Holland. Jacques Tichelaar (PvdA), commissioner of the province of Drenthe, which makes with Groningen en Fryslân the Northern part of Holland, wrote in an article in the Friesch Dagblad( Frisian Christian paper) that there is already a scheme to let merge the three northern provinces. Decisions are made whit the people, but nowadays mostly about the people and especially without them.
Just before Easter a council of officers made proposals to economize. Even there is the point of view to let merge the provinces.
In Fryslân things are quite different. Most of the people tend to give the competences to make decisions to the Province of Fryslân, and take this competence for a big deal away from The Hague. Two commissions made proposals to decentralize, the commission Hoekstra en the commission Lodders. We don’t agree that commissions are installed but not are listened to. De government of Holland is going two steps forward, and one step backwards, as with the procession of Echternach.
Consequences of the elimination of the Province of Fryslân as a governmental unity
Other provinces in Holland may agree broadly with the elimination of this administrative function, but in the province of Fryslân people don’t agree at all.
Cultural and economically merging will be a disaster for Fryslân.
To merge the administrative functions with Groningen en Drenthe will cause a big downturn for Fryslân. It is a well-known consequence of scaling-up that there will be a economic recovery in the governmental center. A warning example is Holland itself. Since 1600 more and more the economic heart has moved to the urban agglomeration of Western Holland. Of course there is an opposite effect to the counties that lay – far – from the governmental center.
The example of the province and the city of Groningen sustains this. All the economic activity is concentrated in and around the city of Groningen, while obviously the eastern part of the province of Groningen is very poor indeed. Of course it won’t go a different way when the administrative tasks for the province of Fryslân will be merged with the administrative tasks of the province of Groningen and Drenthe. All activities will no doubt move to the city of Groningen.
This will also have consequences for Education and Employment.
Economical stimulation programs won’t be able to take away the negative implications of merging. Programs like that will make things worse and needlessly bureaucratically complicated. Economic stimulation programs in this case make shift measures, only needed because of going on with a failing policy.
Cultural unity
Very important in this case is the fact that the Province of Fryslân is a very old unique cultural unity with its own language and outlook.
No one will doubt that governmental merging will cause damage for the Frisian culture and language.
In a province in which also the provinces of Groningen and Drenthe merges, the Frisian language may not be the official language any more in the Frisian part.
Also those schools will be to lose their identity where nowadays children have lessons in three languages: Frisian, Dutch and English.
The Frisian language is likely not be allowed to be spoken any more in court and in the Frisian governments.
It is a chutzpa to sustain this heavily the scaling-up while nowadays citizens want to have more influence on decisions made in their own counties.
We are questioning the necessity of this merging of provinces. We think that as with governmental renewing before, it is likely that even more money has to be spend on bureaucracy needed to solve problems that weren’t there before this kind of useless operations.
And last but no least: The Charter of Governmental Agreements, art. 7, first member, letter b, says: “The Government (of Holland – red.) respects the governmental unity of the province of Fryslân as a basic principal for its policy of government”.
To turn down governmental agreements is not the way Fryslân wants to make policy. In our province we think an honest man’s word is as good as his bond.
If you agree with us that laws and agreements should be the basis for a good government; if you, like us, want too that the province of Fryslân with its old language and culture has to be kept as a governmental unity – even if there is elsewhere a preference for big provinces – please sustain our petition with your sign.
The petition
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