Anyone looking forward to celebrating a good old-fashioned King’s Day will be left disappointed this year, as the Dutch Security Council has said no major events will be allowed to take place in the Netherlands until May 5.
The Security Council has taken the decision following conversations with acting Health Minister Hugo de Jonge and acting Justice Minister Ferd Grapperhaus. The announcement means that Dutch mayors will refuse to grant any requests for event permits until May 6.
The 25 mayors with seats on the council have agreed that, even if the Dutch government were to considerably relax the national restrictions, municipalities will not issue any permits. This means that, no matter what happens, no major events will be taking place for King’s Day on April 27 or Liberation Day on May 5.
Hubert Bruls, chairman of the council and mayor of Nijmegen, said the decision had been taken in order to provide all event organisers with clarity for the coming months: “Setting up a big event takes a lot of preparation time. We don't know now whether a public party will be possible at the end of April or the beginning of May...We had to take the plunge now and be clear.”
The mayors refused to extend their event ban to June 1 or July 1, as Bruls said it was too early to take a decision about the summer. “Society has to open up more and more,” Bruls said, “You cannot continue to forbid everything; we also have to offer perspective.”
The Nijmegen mayor is optimistic that events will be able to take place again over the summer, especially if more people in the Netherlands are vaccinated against coronavirus and the FieldLab trial events taking place this spring prove successful.