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See also:	Other events of 2006 History of the Netherlands

This article lists some of the events that took place in theNetherlands in2006.

• Monarch:Beatrix of the Netherlands^[1]
• Prime Minister:Jan Peter Balkenende^[2]

• January 1: A redivision of local government inSouth Holland andUtrecht comes into effect. Eleven existing municipalities are merged to form three new municipalities.
• January 4:Prostitution inArnhem's red light district, theSpijkerkwartier, ends. All prostitutes move to an industrial area on the outskirts of the city.
• January 8: The remains of four babies are discovered in the backyard of a house inBeverwijk,North Holland. The woman living the house is arrested on suspicion of killing her four newborn children.
• January 9: Protesters are removed from a forest inSchinveld,Limburg. The forest is cut down to facilitate airplanes landing at theNATO air force base inGeilenkirchen,Germany.
• January 21:De Telegraaf newspaper reports that criminals have gotten hold of state secrets of theGeneral Intelligence and Security Service.
• January 30:Willem Holleeder, kidnapper ofFreddy Heineken in 1983, is arrested on suspicion ofextortion of several real estate magnates, including murderedWillem Endstra. Holleeder is also suspected of leading one of the organized crime entities inAmsterdam.

• February 1: An apartment complex on the Bos en Lommerplein,Amsterdam is evacuated as tests indicate that the building is about to collapse. Local authorities declare the building unfit for habitation, while the constructor offers the residents alternative housing.
• February 2: TheHouse of Representatives votes in favour of theISAFoperation of theNetherlands Army inOrūzgān Province,Afghanistan.
• February 3:Boris Dittrich resigns asfractievoorzitter ofD66. He had indicated that his party would leave the government coalition if the mission to Afghanistan were approved, but said during the debate that this was a strategic remark aimed at swaying the oppositionLabour Party to oppose the mission. This failed, and the admission led to widespread criticism within D66.
• February 6: The Dutch government announces that it will return the art collection ofJacques Goudstikker to his heirs. The works of art had been confiscated by the Nazis during the Second World War. The Dutch government confiscated the works from the Nazi government in 1945 as "enemy assets."

• March 1: The newhealth insurance system comes into force. The difference between private and mutual funds is lifted.
• March 6:Milan Babić, former president of theRepublic of Serbian Krajina, commits suicide in the detention unit of theInternational Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia inThe Hague.
• March 7:Dutch municipal elections, 2006: The winning parties areLabour Party andSocialist Party.fractievoorzitterJozias van Aartsen of theVVD resigns after his party loses many seats.
• March 10:Hofstad Network trial:Jason Walters andIsmail Akhnikh are convicted for membership of a terrorist organisation, for attempted murder and for illegal firearms possession. Walters received a 15-year prison sentence, while Akhnikh is sentenced to 13 years in prison.
• March 11:Slobodan Milosevic, former president ofSerbia andYugoslavia, is found dead in the detention unit of theInternational Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia inThe Hague.

• April 1: The party council ofGreenLeft repeals the expulsion ofSenate memberSam Pormes. He had been expelled from the party after lying about his involvement in terrorist activities.
• April 20: Pub ownerThomas van der Bijl is shot dead outside his pub inAmsterdam. According to reports inDe Telegraaf, police suspect that Van der Bijl had been involved in a failed smuggle of 30,000 kilos of narcotics. Van der Bijl was also believed to be a key prosecution witness in the trial againstWillem Holleeder.
• April 24: Medical authorities suspend the permit of the Radboud hospital inNijmegen,Gelderland to perform heart surgeries, after an investigation reveals that the hospital fails the criteria.

• May 6: The Netherlands military base inSeedorf,Lower Saxony,Germany is closed.
• May 16: Minister for Integration and ImmigrationRita Verdonk says during a debate thatAyaan Hirsi Ali is not a Dutch citizen, after reports that she had lied about her name and situation during her asylum application. Hirsi Ali immediately leaves theHouse of Representatives
• May 30:Wilhelm Schippers is sentenced to eight years in prison and forced treatment in a psychiatric institution. Schippers had fled from his forced treatment in the Veldzicht clinic inBalkbrug,Overijssel while on a leave, and killed a 73-year-old man in Amsterdam while on the run. The case leads to a review of all leaves from forced treatments.
• May 31: Members of theVVD chooseMark Rutte as the newlijsttrekker of the party in aninternal election. He defeatsRita Verdonk andJelleke Veenendaal.
• May 31: ThePolish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade is awarded theOrder of William, the highest military decoration in the Netherlands, for its role inOperation Market Garden.Major GeneralStanisław Sosabowski is posthumously awarded theBronze Lion.

• June 8: BusinessmanGuus Kouwenhoven is sentenced to eight years in prison selling firearms to Liberian presidentCharles Taylor.
• June 21: FormerLiberian president Charles Taylor is transferred toThe Hague, to be tried there by theSpecial Court for Sierra Leone.
• June 24: The orthodox Christian partySGP lifts its ban on female membership. The party had lost its government subsidy because a court in The Hague found the ban on female membership to be in violation of theConvention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.
• June 24: Members ofD66 chooseAlexander Pechtold as the newlijsttrekker of the party in aninternal election. He defeatsLousewies van der Laan.
• June 27: Minister for Integration and ImmigrationRita Verdonk announces thatAyaan Hirsi Ali can retain her Dutch citizenship.
• June 30: Prime MinisterJan Peter Balkenende offers the resignation of theSecond Balkenende cabinet. During a night debate,D66fractievoorzitterLousewies van der Laan announces that her party will leave the government in response to the wayRita Verdonk has handled the case of Ayaan Hirsi Ali's passport.

• July 6: Two Dutch children flee to the Dutch embassy inDamascus,Syria. They had been taken to Syria a few years earlier by their Syrian father. The children wish to be reunited with their Dutch mother, but the father insists on his paternity rights.
• July 6: The caretakerThird Balkenende cabinet, consisting ofCDA andVVD, is formed.
• July 11:Wilhelm Schippers, who had been sentenced to eight years in prison and forced psychiatric treatment on May 30, commits suicide in prison.
• July 19: TheInternational Four Days Marches Nijmegen are cancelled on the first day, after two participants die as a result of the intense heat.

• August 1: TheISAFTask Force Uruzgan operation of theNetherlands Army inOrūzgān Province,Afghanistan starts.
• August 1: Thenew spelling of theDutch language comes into effect.
• August 6: A staircase collapses during a concert in the centre ofUtrecht. One person is killed, twenty people are injured.
• August 8: The province ofGroningen is hit by a magnitude 3.5 earthquake, the biggest ever to hit the region. The quake is caused bynatural gas extraction from theSlochteren field.
• August 14: BusinessmanRené van den Berg is sentenced to five years in prison for an €85 million fraud.
• August 18:Bluetongue disease is found on a farm inKerkrade,Limburg.
• August 25: Two people are killed when lightning strikes during a funeral inVorden,Gelderland.
• August 31: ARoyal Netherlands Air ForceF-16 Fighting Falcon crashes inAfghanistan, killing the 29-year-old pilot.

• September 13: A row starts over an interview withMinister of JusticePiet Hein Donner in the bookHet land van haat en nijd (The Land of Hate and Malice). Donner says thatdemocracy means that thesharia, Islamic legislation, can be introduced in the Netherlands as well.
• September 14:Nova broadcasts the video testament of terrorism suspectSamir Azzouz.
• September 19:Prinsjesdag: The government announces a budget surplus, the first since 2000
• September 21: The Safety Investigation Board publishes its report about the2005 Schiphol detention centre fire. Justice MinisterPiet Hein Donner and theMinister of Housing, Spatial Planning and the EnvironmentSybilla Dekker resign.
• September 22: Former Justice MinisterErnst Hirsch Ballin is announced as the successor of Piet Hein Donner. Former Minister of Housing, Spatial Planning and the EnvironmentPieter Winsemius succeeds Sybilla Dekker.

• October 3: Police inRotterdam show the media the reconstruction of the head of an unknown girl, whose remains had been found in several suitcases in theMeuse. It turns out to be a 12-year-old girl from Rotterdam called Gessica. Her father is arrested on suspicion of the murder.
• October 6: The filmBlack Book, directed byPaul Verhoeven, wins threeGolden Calf awards at theNetherlands Film Festival inUtrecht.
• October 12: Public broadcasterTROS says it considers cancelling the long runninggame showLingo. An uproar follows, in which even Prime MinisterJan Peter Balkenende gets involved.
• October 13: Fivemarines are suspended after misbehaviour towards the local population during a training inKarasjok,Norway.
• October 30: The voting computers for the November 22general election are disapproved in 35 municipalities.

• November 1: Eighteen horses drown on theWaddenzee shore nearMarrum,Friesland is flooded after a storm. The other horses, over 100 in number, seek refuge on an incline in the pasture. They are guided to the mainland two days later.
• November 2: The governments of theNetherlands and theNetherlands Antilles sign an agreement disbanding theNetherlands Antilles on July 1, 2007.Curaçao andSint Maarten will becomeassociated states within theKingdom of the Netherlands, whileBonaire,Saba andSint Eustatius will becomeDutch municipalities.
• November 7: TheMobiele Eenheid starts removing 25 squatters fromFort Pannerden fortress nearPannerden,Gelderland. The operation takes two days.
• November 17:De Volkskrant reports that officers of theMilitary Intelligence and Security Service ofthe Netherlands have physically abused prisoners in theIraqigovernorate ofAl Muthanna.
• November 21: A passenger train and a cargo train collide at the train station ofArnhem,Gelderland. Thirty people are injured.
• November 22:Dutch general election, 2006: The 2006 general elections are won by theSocialist Party. Other winners are Christian partyChristianUnion, the far rightParty for Freedom and the animal rights partyParty for the Animals. The rulingChristian Democratic Appeal loses three seats, but remains the largest party. ThePim Fortuyn List, the landslide winner of theDutch general election, 2002, loses all its seats in parliament.
• November 25: QueenBeatrix of the Netherlands appointsRein Jan Hoekstra as theinformateur for the new government. His task will be to assess the possibility of a coalition of theCDA, theLabour Party and theSocialist Party.
• November 27: A court inAmsterdam orders thecoercive detention of two journalist ofDe Telegraaf newspaper, after they refuse to reveal the identity of their sources. The journalists had published classified information of theGeneral Intelligence and Security Service.
• November 28:Rita Verdonk requests an investigation into the election campaign of theVVD, after the official publication of the election results. Verdonk, the number 2 on the VVD list, received more votes than thelijsttrekkerMark Rutte.
• November 30: The new House of Representatives passes a motion requesting a stop to the expulsion of around 26,000 asylum seekers who arrived in the Netherlands more than five years ago.

• December 1: Eight-year-oldJesse Dingemans ofHoogerheide,North Brabant, is stabbed to death inside his elementary school. A 22-year-old man from the same village is arrested near the school a few hours later on suspicion of the murder.
• December 1: AllegedHofstad Network memberSamir Azzouz is sentenced to eight years in prison for conspiring to commit a terrorist attack in theNetherlands. Three other suspects receive sentences of three to four years.
• December 6:Gerdi Verbeet (Labour Party) becomes the new President of theHouse of Representatives.
• December 7: TV programNova reports that Turkish-Dutch politicianFatma Koşer Kaya (D66) has been voted into parliament after aTurkish government officials had sent an e-mail to about 200,000 Dutch citizens of Turkish origin, asking them to vote for her. Koşer Kaya, who refused to speak about theissue of the Armenian genocide, was sixth on the list of candidates for D66, but received more than enough votes to be elected to parliament directly.
• December 11:CDA, theLabour Party and theSocialist Party end their negotiations for the formation of a new government.
• December 12: TheHouse of Representatives passes amotion of censure against Minister for Integration and ImmigrationRita Verdonk, who had indicated that she would not honour the motion it had passed on November 30.
• December 13:Rita Verdonk loses the immigration portfolio after a 10-hour emergency meeting by the cabinet. The portfolio is taken over by Justice MinisterErnst Hirsch Ballin. In return, Verdonk receives the responsibility over youth care, prevention and probation.
• December 20:Herman Wijffels takes over fromRein Jan Hoekstra as theinformateur for the new government. Wijffels will assess the possibility of a coalition ofCDA, theLabour Party andChristianUnion.
• December 22: Sara and Ammar, the two children who had fled to the Dutch embassy inDamascus,Syria on July 6, return to the Netherlands, after representatives of the Dutch government reach an agreement with the Syrian government and with the children's Syrian father.
• December 24: Three men are arrested on the suspicion of murdering bankerWillem Endstra in 2004. The DNA of one of the suspects had been found on the presumed murder weapon.
• December 30: Talk show hostSonja Barend ends her career during a live show, after 40 years in the business. During the show, Amsterdam mayor Job Cohen announces that Barend has been awarded the title of Officer in theOrder of Orange-Nassau.

See worldwide2006 in sports

• January 6:Michaëlla Krajicek andPeter Wessels reach the final of the2006 Hopman Cup inPerth,Australia, losing againstLisa Raymond andTaylor Dent of theUnited States.
• January 13:Michaëlla Krajicek wins theWTA tournament inHobart,Australia.
• January 13:Chelsea F.C. wingerArjen Robben opens theEuroborg, the new stadium of his former clubFC Groningen.
• January 14:Korfball club PKC ofPapendrecht,South Holland win the European Cup for the tenth time, defeating Belgian side Riviera in the final.
• January 15:Jelle Klaasen defeatsRaymond van Barneveld in the final of the2006 BDO World Darts Championship.
• January 23:Pierre van Hooijdonk signs a contract with his former clubFeyenoord Rotterdam, leavingNAC Breda.
• January 29:Viswanathan Anand wins theCorus chess tournament inWijk aan Zee,North Holland.
• January 29:Marianne Vos wins theUCI Cyclo-cross World Championships inZeddam,Gelderland.
• February 5: TheKlassieker betweenFeyenoord andAjax ends in a 3–2 home victory for Feyenoord.
• February 10–12: The Netherlands lose the2006 Davis Cup first round match against the later winners Russia 5–0.
• February 12:Ireen Wüst wins thewomen's 3000 metresspeed skating at the2006 Winter Olympics.Renate Groenewold wins silver.
• February 16: The Netherlands men's speed skating team pursuit team wins a bronze medal at the2006 Winter Olympics.
• February 19:Marianne Timmer wins thewomen's 1000 metresspeed skating at the2006 Winter Olympics.
• February 24:Bob de Jong wins theMen's 10000 metresspeed skating at the2006 Winter Olympics.
• February 28: The rape charges against football playerRobin van Persie (Arsenal) are discontinued.
• March 1:The Netherlands defeatsEcuador 1–0 in a friendly football match held inAmsterdam.
• March 8:PSV are eliminated byOlympique Lyonnais in the second round of the2005/06 UEFA Champions League.
• March 14:Ajax are eliminated byInternazionale in the second round of the2005/06 UEFA Champions League.
• March 25:Ellen van Dijk wins theWomen's road race at the2006 World University Cycling Championship
• March 14:Thomas Dekker wins theTirreno-Adriatico 2006.
• March 31:Excelsior win theEerste Divisie title by defeating rivalsVVV.
• April 9: Long-distance runnerKamiel Maase wins his third Dutch marathon title, clocking 2:10:44.2 in theRotterdam Marathon.

• 2005–06 Eredivisie
• 2005–06 Eerste Divisie
• 2005–06 KNVB Cup
• 2006 Johan Cruijff Schaal

• April 8:Robin van Duiven, Malaysian footballer
• June 3:Countess Leonore of Orange-Nassau, Jonkvrouwe van Amsberg

• January 1:Bart Bosman, 63, biologist
• January 2:Henk de Looper, 93, field hockey player, Olympic bronze medalist
• January 4:Nel van Vliet, 79, Olympic and European swimming champion and former world record holder
• January 8:Joop van Elsen, 89, politician and resistance fighter
• January 9:Gerrie Kleton, 52, football player
• January 19:Jos Staatsen, 62, former chairman of theRoyal Dutch Football Association
• January 19:Fred van der Werff, 90, retail entrepreneur
• January 22:Rick van der Linden, 59, musician,Ekseption
• January 26:Pieter Terpstra, 86, journalist and author
• February 3:Joop van der Reijden, 79, former secretary of state, former chairman of public broadcaster NOS and of commercial television stationVeronica
• March 22:Ria Beckers, 67, former member of the House of Representatives forPPR andGreenLeft.
• March 25:Joop Admiraal, 68, actor
• March 25:Frits Fentener van Vlissingen, 72, entrepreneur, industrialist, billionaire. One of the richest persons in the Netherlands.
• April 3:Frédérique Huydts, 38, actress
• April 8:Gerard Reve, 82, author and poet
• April 20:Sylvia de Leur, 72, actress and comedian
• May 3:Karel Appel, 85,COBRA painter
• May 5:Marijke Höweler, 67, author
• May 6:Han Reiziger, 72, television presenter of music programmes
• May 21:Willem van Beusekom, 59, television presenter
• June 5:Friso Wiegersma, 80, songwriter
• June 15:Bert Klunder, 49, comedian

• July 7:Rudi Carrell, 71, TV show host
• July 11:Wilhelm Schippers, 41, criminal
• July 20:Theo Sijthoff, 69, cyclist and fashion designer
• August 1:Johannes Willebrands, 96, cardinal, formerArchbishop of Utrecht.
• August 1:Krijn Torringa, 66, radio dj
• August 21:Paul Fentener van Vlissingen, 65, entrepreneur, industrialist, billionaire, philanthropist. One of the richest persons in the Netherlands.
• October 22:Paul Biegel, 81, author.
• November 26:Cri Stellweg, 84, columnist.
• December 2:Mariska Veres, 59, singer ofShocking Blue.^[3]
• December 14:Robert Long, 63, singer.
• December 23:Frans Haks, 68, art historian and museum director.

• 2006 in Dutch television

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