According to Dutch state news, the US is threatening to harm co-operation between Dutch and US airlines, going as far as to ban Dutch airlines from US airspace. This is all because The Netherlands wants to reduce the number of flights at Schiphol Airport.
It's just one temper tantrum after another, lately. US politicians aren't presenting themselves as the most rational actors. From the article it sounds like labelling the action 'controversial' means the current cabinet can't proceed with the plan. They'd have to wait till after an election? So the US is trying to exploit a technical loophole.
The Netherlands is hardly the most radical country and still, the US won't let it marginally cut flights to reduce noise and lower carbon emissions. Hopefully they do what they want to do and tell the US to stick it. They probably won't. Which means this story can go in the bag marked, 'unfortunate reasons why democratic socialism won't work'.
The cabinet has fallen (for the fourth time in a row lol) and are now basically sitting out the period until the next elections in november. Because of this the US is saying they can't decide anything in between. Funny enough that did not count when we agreed to the horrific Migration Deal with Tunisia, or any other decision that has been made ever since. Nope, just the one about Schiphol Airport.
And we're talking about I think 70k flights on a yearly 500k total. It's not like we are drastically cutting down on flying either.
The cabinet has fallen (for the fourth time in a row lol) and are now basically sitting out the period until the next elections in november.
Add to that the many months it will undoubtedly take before a new cabinet gets sworn in.
But what if they were to say "no" to USA? They won't, but just - what if? What's USA going to do? Invade? Sanction them?
Wag their fingers and take away those politicians treats. The Dutch politicians won’t like it if their money is threatened, and this also lets them beg for a favour in return later.
