KONINGSDAG
Although I left my native country more than 55 years ago, my
Dutch heart beat a little faster on April 26 when Holland celebrated its first
King's Day after 139 years of queens. On this national holiday for the
monarch's birthday, the people dress in orange in homage to the royal house of
Oranje-Nassau and each year one town is selected to host old-fashioned Dutch
games (like canal vaulting) wherein the royals sometimes participate.
It is all good fun, but this was interrupted tragically in
2009 when a crazed man drove his car through a crowd of spectators and tried to
ram it into the open double-decker bus that carried then-queen Beatrix and most
of her children and grandchildren. Eight people were killed in the attack,
including the driver. It could have meant the end of a long and happy national
tradition, when the Dutch let go of their usual reserve and burst into
boisterous support for their monarch. Today the annual celebration continues,
though with increased security.
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| Koningsdag 2014 in Amsterdam |
Like elsewhere, the monarchy in Holland has come under
pressure from political groups who question its usefulness in today's age, but
any debate on the subject has always resulted in near-unanimous support for
maintaining the monarchy, which in this increasingly multi-cultural society
plays a unifying role that cannot be overestimated.
Not only does the monarchy perdure, but it has been given a boost with the arrival on the scene of Argentine-born Maxima
Zorreguieta who since her marriage to the crown prince in 2002 has become the
most popular royal in Holland and is today their beloved queen. Down to earth,
intelligent, modern and involved (she is an economist), she has won over the
doubters and become a true asset to her husband and indeed to the monarchy. Her
warmth and spontaneity have earned her rock-star status with the young, and
others see her as a level-headed and well-informed counselor to the king. Never
have people been so united in their appreciation - dare we say love? - for a
member of the royal family, and never has this phenomenon included all ages.
Yes, Holland is mad about Max!
During the Nuclear Security Summit held in The Hague in late
March, a clever journalist noted the Maxima effect on some of our world
leaders.
See for yourself.
The royal couple meeting:
President François Hollande
Prime Minister David Cameron
President Barack Obama
Who is that guy with Maxima and Obama?
GOODBYE ALSTOM
In a continuing string of sell-offs, another major French
company is being taken over, wholly or in part, by a foreign entity. After
steel and cement giants Arcelor and Lafarge, today French flagship company
ALSTOM, maker of giant turbines and high-speed trains (TGV), is being sold to
American GENERAL ELECTRIC (unless German SIEMENS wins out in a last-minute
bidding war). It's another case of a French company being unable to compete in
a globalized economy.
The French government (no longer a shareholder since 2006)
is crying foul for not having been consulted and is trying to steer the deal to
Siemens in order to keep the business in Europe. Economy Minister Arnaud
Montebourg was quick to say "The deal is not done, and the government will
have its say in the matter".
So far, however, General Electric's bid of €12.4 billion has
Alstom's preference over Siemens.
Technically, the government has no right to interfere in a
transaction between private companies, but President Hollande stressed the
strategic importance of energy and transport for the nation and the advantages
of a European alliance rather than one with America. Siemens and Alstom are in
the same business with overlapping
products (energy and transport) and their merger would ultimately cause job
losses in France, but the government has won a guarantee from Siemens that it
would not lay off any employees in France for the coming three years - in other
words, until after President Hollande's first term.
GE, which already has a foothold and more than 10,000
employees in France, is only interested in the energy branch of Alstom,
allowing Alstom to maintain and expand its transport business (trains, trams,
Eurostar, TGV).
A one-month moratorium has been declared so that Siemens can
do due diligence and finalize its counter offer, but Economy Minister Arnaud
Montebourg is not waiting for the outcome and in his blustering, rather
unhelpful, way is accusing Alstom of dealing behind the government's back and
calling its CEO Patrick Kron a lier "who promised me as recently as
February that he would not sell without consulting the government. Do we have
to install lie detectors in his office?" In his rant before Parliament an
arm-waving Montebourg called on Alstom's patriotic duty, just as he had done,
unsuccessfully, during the recent bidding war for French telecommunications
company SFR which was ultimately bought by Luxembourg-based Altice-Numéricable.
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| Arnaud Montebourg at Alstom plant |
His fight
with Mittal, Indian-owned world leader in steel production who had bought the
ailing French steelmaker Arcelor in 2012 and subsequently closed two blast
furnaces in Lorraine, is remembered for Montebourg's outburst: "Mr.
Mittal, you are not welcome here in France!" It may not sound ministerial
but it plays well with factory workers.
HOLLANDE-VALLS
Meanwhile, President Hollande is lying low, while Prime
Minister Manuel Valls is fighting the big battles − rather successfully according
to the latest BVA poll in Le Parisien
where he now has a 64% approval rating, even though 41 members of his own PS
party voted against his 3-year financial plan in the National Assembly because
it was not "left" enough. Nevertheless, the BVA opinion poll
indicated that across the board Valls scored high on "Authority, Strong
Convictions, and Courage".
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT ELECTIONS
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| European Parliament in Strasbourg |
The next challenge will be the May 25 elections for the
European Parliament, where the Socialist Party is currently running a poor
third (13%) behind the extreme right Front National party of Marine Le Pen
(23%) and a UMP party weakened by internal strife (25%). The humiliating loss
of the socialists in the March municipal elections was the Front National's
gain, where many of the disenfranchised have sought refuge under the umbrella
of Marine Le Pen and her nationalistic anti-immigrant, anti-Euro message.
Punishing President Hollande by embracing the extreme
opposite seems like jumping from the frying pan into the fire.
MARSEILLES CRUISING
ALONG
After its success as 2013 Cultural Capital of Europe which
metamorphosed the Vieux Port into the beautiful area it is today, Marseilles has not stopped building and
has just opened a third cruise ship terminal, adding 16,000 square meters to its passenger
port infrastructure and allowing it to receive up to seven large ocean liners simultaneously. By the end of 2014 the passenger port of Marseilles expects to receive 1.35 million tourists.
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| Room for seven of these at once |
This past weekend saw six large cruise ships bring in 14,000
passengers, who each are estimated to spend approximately €138 in town during
their short one-day stopover.
Lots of smiles all around.
Lots of smiles all around.
