Fireworks sales have not yet started in the Netherlands, but in Baarle-Nassau it has been busy for weeks. In neighboring Belgium it is already allowed, so the ‘Dutch’ are flocking to the border village where it is allowed on one side of the street and not on the other. And that causes inconvenience.
It’s a coming and going of customers at the fireworks shops this Saturday. “All Dutchmen!”, a local resident grumbles on the corner of the street. By order of the municipality, the street had become one-way traffic to reduce the nuisance. “But the Dutch don’t care about that,” says local resident Peter van Breda. “They park where they are not allowed to park and if they cannot pass, they simply drive over the sidewalk at full speed. That is life-threatening if you come out of the firebreak here with your bicycle or stroller! And if you say something about it, you risk a slap on the face. Because it’s tight, or what do you call it: scum!”
Van Breda is annoyed by the traffic controllers that owner Gijs van de Velde has hired from the fireworks trade. “You send those cars in the wrong direction yourself! But I’m going to round up the neighborhood here. The newspapers will be full again!”, he shouts in frustration.
“The fireworks have been voluntarily given up. If they don’t, they risk a fine.”
Gijs van de Velde came to take a closer look himself. He understands the anger of the residents, but says he has permission from the Belgian mayor to ignore the one-way. Because at the end of the one-way street, the Dutch municipality of Baarle-Nassau has police and enforcers. They catch the cars with fireworks buyers.
Fireworks sales in the Netherlands are only allowed three days before New Year’s Eve. Anyone driving around with fireworks in their car is ordered to hand them over. There are already a few boxes of fireworks. “That was voluntarily given up,” explains special investigating officer (boa) Mike Brekelmans of the municipality of Baarle-Nassau. “If they don’t, they can be fined and it will still be confiscated.
“The collaboration between Baarle-Hertog and Baarle-Nassau is a drama.”
Over the past few days, one hundred and twenty kilos of fireworks have been ‘voluntarily donated’. To the anger of fireworks seller Van de Velde. “This was not agreed upon!” he says. “The mayor has promised that there would be no checks. The road would be one-way and we would meet the neighborhood that is a nuisance.”
And so he called the Belgian municipality and arranged that he can send his customers the other way. And that is a point on which they all, the fireworks seller, the local resident and even the boa agree: the cooperation between the Belgian municipality of Baarle-Hertog and the Dutch Baarle-Nassau is a drama.
“We should have a table together,” fireworks seller Van de Velde tries to appease the angry Van Breda. “Both the municipalities, the local residents and the sellers.” But Van Breda does not think that will happen. “You earn a good living from it, and I wish you that. But the municipality in Belgium collects tax from those fireworks sales. And we? We have the nuisance. Voilà.”