Since October 9, 2017, when I was told at the town hall in Venlo, office life affairs, that I was no longer a Dutch citizen, I have been waiting for this day. After celebrating Europe Day yesterday, I thank you, also on behalf of my wife Rachel and our daughter Zora, for allowing us to speak.
The objection that we have already submitted together with our lawyer is limited to the legally verifiable. I am going to take this opportunity to explain the violation of my European Rights by the passport-snatching-terror of the Dutch State in my own words.
What for me intuitively has always been clear, has been confirmed once again by the European Court with the Tjebbes judgment: A reprimand to the Dutch state for applying a human touch to repressive passport policy.
As a born and raised Dutch person, from Dutch parents, my passport is being taken away. Not by pickpockets or my host country, but my home port. In the language in which I count, curse and mourn. No Italian, Irish, German or French would’ve had this happen. Citizens from 25 of the 27 EU countries are free to hold a double passport.
You argue to “serve” the interest “…of preventing or counteract multiple possession of nationality. ” You legitimize this interest in European court “to safeguard the special bond of solidarity and loyalty between me and the Netherlands.” (based on case law from the Rottman case, EU Court).
At the same time, you defend yourself against my claim to citizenship with: “… the circumstance that one feels Dutch, has a strong connection with the Netherlands, still maintain contacts with friends in the Netherlands or still speak the Dutch language, is not important…” You contradict yourself.
I am implicitly accused of a lack of solidarity and loyalty with the Netherlands. Without any evidence whatsoever, you already find me guilty in principle. There is no evidence that I am a threat to state security, public health or public order. I am being treated as if I had fled the former East Germany. An innocent citizen loses his Union rights while ISIS fighters repatriate back to the kingdom on their Dutch passport.
This while I have been unpaid and proudly representing the Netherlands abroad for fifteen years. As a professional ski patroller, I have also saved Dutch tourist lives on the ski slopes of Aspen, Colorado.
So much for my loyalty and solidarity.
1- Passport Handicap.
Most Western civilizations reap the benefits of multiple Nationality. The right to buy a car or house, open a bank account, connect gas, water and electricity, insurance, visa application, equal opportunities for income, employment, protection and care. Pretty much the definition of social mobility or equality opportunities. Only as a Dutchman you are the shafted.
The morally bankrupt doctrine of exile through de-naturalization under the guise of the RWN stems from an era where the nationalistic purging of the registery was still trendy. However, in the light of the European Union in 2021 in a world full of fierce competition, the Netherlands leaves me in just my shirt, in the cold, in the lurch. My question is: With whom does your loyalty and solidarity lie?
The interest you argue to “serve” is only a striving, after all, the RWN does not state “… to exclude multiple possession of nationality…” Because the list of exceptions is complete: birth, marital status, Moroccan and Turkish Dutch. As far as the the crown: a queen with dual nationality! There are hundreds of thousands of exceptions.
So it cannot be that dire, poignant or acute in the striving of your interest. A less burdensome alternative that serves the interest well is available. The draconian measure to confiscate my European Union citizenship lacks any urgency, necessity and is in no way proportionate to “serving” a mere bureaucratic striving. Let alone protect.
In your decision, my loss must “serve” the interest. Nowhere do you state that you want to protect the interest, this speaks volumes. Instead of a government that protects and recognizes disproportionality, as a duped citizen I have to serve the rules – however crooked they may be. “Befehl ist Befehl.” This embodies the ecosystem of a governing culture of state distrust that is now so discredited. An unprecedented resemblance to a well known injustice.
In defining proportionality in your decision, you warn me not to disqualify myself by brining forth hypothetical arguments such as future plans with wife and daughter. Then you still disapprove of me for the lack of proof of those same future plans.
In your decision, you leave out leave the events of 2011 and 2013 as: well before and well after the moment of loss. Not a paragraph before however, from 2015-16 you eagerly cite the lack of insurmountable difficulties as the reason for my disqualification. To your like or dislike, time in flux.
The lack of comprehension by the Dutch law in recognizing the concept of Union citizenship is proportional to that of a small greengrocer. As if there were a sliding scale in which a citizen enjoys a little more or less Union rights than the other. A 75% vehicle, a 40% bank account and a 90-day residence permit. Union law is binary, you have it or you DON’T.
So far we have spent 1760 + 2640 = 4400 Euro in costs for legal assistance.
Should the situation arise that we have to take the step to the administrative court, this will escalate for our family with another 3260 euros to a total of more than seven thousand euros. This is most of our savings that we had set aside to buy the farm in the magical village of Courgné, 45 minutes outside of Turin, for Euro 12000.
A transatlantic journey is a costly, big deal for us these days. Even without a pandemic it is quite an undertaking to make the journey, now our family is denied access to Europe. With child, luggage, paragliding and ski equipment, our campervan is vital to being independent from accommodation and transport. This is the way for us to keep costs manageable, be effective with family visits and pursue European ambitions. In the future, I also envision this as the only way. Soon when we make the farm in Italy habitable, we will undoubtedly sleep and cook in our camper.
As a citizen from another federation, the United States, I don’t need any imagination to see the European federation “Coast to Coast”. My life in Aspen, Colorado is a fairytale come true. It has given me avalanche control and explosives work in the form of a career on the ski patrol. I didn’t have that opportunity at the ROC in Nijmegen or at the HTS in Tilburg. The opportunities and possibilities to move geographically freely in the American Federation have always inspired to replicate this in Europe.
Don’t you think that we would rather spend seven thousand euros on paying off our mortgage?
Finally I am in a stage of life where financially (savings, house partly paid off), professionally (career, Ski Patrol & Paragliding), personally (wife and partner in crime, Rachel), emotionally (as a parent, Zora is now 4 years old) old) and with work experience at a ski area which remained open all winter during the pandemic. All planets are aligned, I can market myself in the Alps just fine.
It’s in the cards for us. We can do this. We already know our address: Via Piloni snc (Società in Nome Collettivo), 300 meters below the paragading take-off ”. At the foot of the Italian Alps in Piedmonte on the border with France. To the north-east, 45 minutes from the Aosta valley: the south side of the Monte Bianco, through the tunnel to Chamonix in the Haute Savoie. To the South East 1 hour from Sestrière, across the pass and the border at Mt. Genèvre to Briançon in the Haute Alpes. To the South 1 hour drive: the port of Savona with the ferry to Sardinia and Corsica. And on the sidewalk: 20 minutes by public transport to Parco Nazionale Gran Paradiso, Bravisimo! Only the RWN stands in our way.
I follow closely what is going on in the Netherlands. Longing for a different administrative culture. Govern with a human touch. Blaming the ladies and gentlemen on the plush is too easy. As authorized officers in a colossal bureaucracy, you share responsibility for this administrative culture. Just like the courts and the press. I can only imagine that your bosses have given orders to “Stand your ground”. Just like the tough language to tackle childcare allowance fraudsters very hard.
I invite and encourage you today, together with our family and your colleagues, to contribute to the change in governance culture that the Netherlands yearns for and to set a precedent. Your decision limits or escalate the damage we incur.
Not only costs thousands of Euros to us, but also the taxpayer as well as a judge’s time. All this while there is a housing shortage in the Netherlands. The childcare allowance mess still isn’t solved. Polluting emission issues, healthcare and education that deserve much more attention. You may realize your responsibility. I close with Mahathma Ghandi: Be the change you wish to see.
