Apologies, Tour, ban, test, and heat (Friday, July 3)

The cabinet offered apologies to women. They had to give up their baby between 1956 and 1984. State Secretary Claudia van Bruggen did this in Amare in The Hague. The apologies were also for fathers and children. According to the cabinet, government, churches, and institutions played a role in this.

The Tour de France starts on Saturday in Barcelona. Much attention is again on Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard. Mathieu van der Poel wants to win the team time trial with his team. In this way, he aims for the yellow jersey. He also says he wants to compete in two sports at the 2028 Olympics.

The cabinet wants to ban temporary workers in the meat sector from mid-2028. According to insiders, the Council of Ministers will decide about this on Friday. The measure comes after years of problems with labor migrants, also in slaughterhouses. There were reports of underpayment, unsafe situations, poor housing, and intimidation.

From the 2029/2030 school year, there should only be one progression test. That test is for group 8. State Secretary Judith Tielen writes this in a letter to the House of Representatives. Currently, there are six tests and there is much criticism of this. According to the PO Council, similar students sometimes still receive different advice.

About 480 extra people died during last week’s heatwave. That is an initial estimate from the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM). 3050 deaths were expected, but the number was around 3530. Mostly people aged 80 and older died. Relatively, most deaths occurred in East and South Netherlands.