On 12 June 2021, MP Pieter Omtzigt left the CDA and has become an independent politician.
Democrats 66
Democrats 66, , official name: "Politieke Partij Democraten 66" (shortened "D66"), is a political party in the Netherlands. They are a social liberal party. The party leader is Sigrid Kaag (former leaders Rob Jetten and Alexander Pechtold).
The party was formed on 14 October 1966 by a group of young academics led by Hans van Mierlo. The party had their most success in the 1994 election, where they won 24 out of 150 seats. In the 2010 elections, they received 654,167 votes and won 10 seats. In the 2012 elections they received 757,091 votes and won 12 seats. In the 2017 elections they won 19 seats (+7), and in the 2021 election 24 (+5).
D66 is very supportive of the European Union. They historically supported the legalization of gay marriage, prostitution, and euthanasia. The party supports environmentalism and wants a mixed economy. D66 wants tax-cuts for the lower and middle classes. They also want direct democracy.
Euroscepticism
Euroscepticism is the criticism of the European Union (EU). Some observers also say that the total rejection of the EU is euroscepticism. Euroscepticism should not be confused with Anti-Europeanism, which is the dislike or fear of European culture and/or people.
Eurosceptics says that the European Union weakens the nation state. They also say that the European Union is too bureaucratic (meaning that important decisions are made by officials who aren't elected). In 2016, the countries with the most unfavourable view of the EU were Greece, France, Spain and the United Kingdom.
The rise of right-wing populist parties in Europe have been contributed to their Eurosceptic views. On 23 June 2016, the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union with 52% voting to leave.
In November 2015, a poll showed that those with a positive image of the EU went down from 52% in 2007 to 37%. Distrust of the EU was highest in Greece (81%), Cyprus (72%), Austria (65%), France (65%) Germany (63%), the United Kingdom (63%) and the Czech Republic (63%).
Some major Eurosceptic parties are shown below (organized by country):
Sweden Democrats
The Sweden Democrats (Swedish: "Sverigedemokraterna", SD) is a political party in Sweden.
The party was founded on 6 February 1988. In the 1988 Swedish general election, they only received 1,118 votes. However, their support has been slowly increasing since. In 2018, they received 1,135,627 votes and won 62 out of 349 seats in the Riksdag.
Other political parties in Sweden refuse to cooperate with the SD.
The Sweden Democrats mainly believe in social conservatism and nationalism. They believe that the current immigration policies in Sweden have failed. They also to make it harder for people to become citizens. According to the SD, a person who wants to become a citizen should: live in Sweden for 10 years, show that they are not criminals, be fluent in Swedish and know Swedish history.
The SD wants to ban abortion after 12 weeks unless the mother's life is in danger. They want a restrictive policy towards drugs and alcohol. They are Eurosceptic, meaning they are critical of the European Union. They awknowledge that LGBT people do not chose their sexuality, and believe that discrimination towards them should be illegal. The SD wants to bring back the conscription (meaning the government forces people to join the armed forces). They are supportive of nuclear power. They are against the death penalty.
Ari Rath
Ari Rath (‎; 6 January 1925 – 13 January 2017) was an Austrian-Israeli journalist and writer. He was born and grew up in Vienna. After the "Anschluss", Rath, who was Jewish, came through a Kindertransport as a thirteen-year-old boy to Palestine. In 1975, he became an editor for "The Jerusalem Post". Later, in 1979, he became the chief editor. In 1989, he left "The Jerusalem Post", and taught at the University of Potsdam. He supported a peaceful bringing together of Israel and Palestine.
Rath died on 13 January 2017 in Vienna at the age of 92.
Alexandra Föderl-Schmid
Alexandra Föderl-Schmid (born 30 January 1971) is an Austrian journalist. She has been the chief editor of the newspaper "Der Standard" since 2007. She began working at the newspaper in 1990. She has been the newspaper's Germany on-the-scene reporter and Brussels-based European Union on-the-scene reporter.
Föderl-Schmid was born in Haslach an der Mühl, Upper Austria. She studied at the University of Salzburg.
Palakkad
Palakkad is a city in the state of Kerala, India. It is the administrative capital of Palakkad District. Palakkad has the seventh most people in Kerala. Malayalam is the most spoken language in Palakkad city.
Palakkad had 130,955 people as of the 2011 Census of India. The literacy rate of the city is 94.20%. The metro area of Palakkad has 293,566 people.
Tourist places in Palakkad include:
Irfan Pathan
Irfan Khan Pathan is an Indian cricketer from Gujarat. He is a left arm fast bowler and left handed batsman. He started with the India national cricket team in the Border–Gavaskar Trophy. Pathan was the first person to take a hat-trick in the first over. He did this achievement against Pakistan at Karachi.
Irfan Pathan was born on 27 October 1984 in what is now Vadodara. His older brother is Yusuf Pathan. He is also a cricketer who played for the National Team of India.
Irfan's top score in Test cricket: 102 out. Total wicket:100. ODI Top Score:83 out. Total wicket:173.
Anton Nanut
Anton Nanut (13 September 1932 – 13 January 2017) was a Slovenian conductor of classical music. From 1981 to 1999, he served as the chief conductor of the RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra. He was a professor of conducting at the Academy of Music in Ljubljana. He also had worked with over 200 orchestras and had made over 200 recordings with many labels. He also worked with Milenko Stefanovic. He was born in Kanal ob Soči.
Nanut died after a long illness on 13 January 2017 in Šempeter pri Gorici. He was 84.
Oude IJsselstreek
Oude IJsselstreek is a municipality of the province of Gelderland, the Netherlands. In 2016 about 40,000 people were living in this municipality.
Oude IJsselstreek is partly in the Achterhoek region and borders Germany.
It was created on 1 January 2005 from the former municipalities of Gendringen and Wisch.
Aa en Hunze
Aa en Hunze is a municipality of the province of Drenthe, the Netherlands. In 2016 about 25,000 people were living in this municipality.
Aa en Hunze lies in the northeastern part of Drenthe.
Aa en Hunze was established in 1998 by combining the municipalities of Anloo, Gasselte, Gieten, and Rolde.
Tracer
Tracer is a fictional video game character. She first appeared in an update for the game "Heroes of the Storm". She later appeared in the 2016 video game, "Overwatch". These games are made by Blizzard Entertainment, a company that makes and publishes video games.
In "Overwatch", the character is known as Tracer, but her real name is Lena Oxton. Her personality is noticeably happy and energetic. She is known as one of the faster characters in the game, but also one with low health. In the game, she is able to teleport and time travel, with her abilities "Blink" and "Recall". She is an "Offense" hero commonly used to flank or distract the enemy team. Her Ultimate Ability, "Pulse Bomb" is commonly used to eliminate high priority targets in a small area, it can also stick to enemies and eliminate others nearby, Tracer herself can also be damaged by this if she is too close.
In the real world, she is one of the more well known characters from "Overwatch". This is because she is seen on the cover of the video game and Blizzard has made animated videos featuring her.