A booming entry into the New Year for the Dutch

0 Comments | AFP, December, 2007

MEER, Belgian-Dutch border (AFP) — The Netherlands will enter the New Year with a big bang, when the Dutch abandon their usual stinginess and spend millions of euros on fireworks, often imported illegally from neighbouring Belgium.

"New Year's Eve is the only time in the Netherlands when the Dutch don't care how much they spend and abandon the moral high ground," Annette Birschel, a German journalist and author of a book on Dutch society, told AFP.

To try and rein in the Dutch enthusiasm for fireworks the authorities have restricted sales to a three day period of 29, 30 and 31 December and "only" 10 kilos (22 pounds) of fireworks per person.

While the interior ministry and other groups have launched campaigns to focus on the danger of fireworks, Birschel...