This article lists some of the events that took place in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

in 2012.

Incumbents

*Monarch:

Beatrix Beatrix is a Latin feminine given name, most likely derived from ''Viatrix'', a feminine form of the Late Latin name ''Viator'' which meant "voyager, traveller" and later influenced in spelling by association with the Latin word ''beatus'' or "bles ...

*Prime Minister:

Mark Rutte Mark Rutte (; born 14 February 1967) is a Dutch politician who has served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands since 2010 and Leader of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) since 2006. After a business career working for Unileve ...

Events

January

* 2: Fire in the Goffert Stadium in

Nijmegen Nijmegen (;; Spanish and it, Nimega. Nijmeegs: ''Nimwèège'' ) is the largest city in the Dutch province of Gelderland and tenth largest of the Netherlands as a whole, located on the Waal river close to the German border. It is about 6 ...

. * 3-7: High water by a Northwestern storm, together with heavy rainfall, causes water inconveniences in the Western and Northern parts of the country. * 9: The Nederlandse Aardolie Maatschappij (NAM) reports the discovery of Metslawier-south, the largest gas field on dry land since 1995. * 13: Joran van der Sloot is sentenced by a Peruvian court to 28 years in jail for the murder of Stephany Flores in 2010. * 13: The price of gasoline matches its highest level ever. The asking price of gasoline is 1,757 euro per liter, making it 10 to 20 cents higher than in neighboring countries. * 21:

Laura Dekker Laura Dekker (; born 20 September 1995) is a New Zealand-born Dutch sailor. In 2009, she announced her plan to become the youngest person to circumnavigate the globe single-handed. A Dutch court stepped in, owing to the objections of the local ...

arrives in

Sint Maarten Sint Maarten () is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the Caribbean. With a population of 41,486 as of January 2019 on an area of , it encompasses the southern 44% of the divided island of Saint Martin, while the northe ...

after a 518-day sailing trip around the world, making her youngest solo-sailor to sail around the world. * 24: The oldest authentic museum building in The Netherlands, Het Teylers Museum in

Haarlem Haarlem (; predecessor of ''Harlem'' in English) is a city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of North Holland. Haarlem is situated at the northern edge of the Randstad, one of the most populated metropoli ...

, announces to co-operate with

Wikipedia Wikipedia is a multilingual free online encyclopedia written and maintained by a community of volunteers, known as Wikipedians, through open collaboration and using a wiki-based editing system. Wikipedia is the largest and most-read refer ...

. * 27: Willem Holleeder is released from prison after serving 2/3 of his jail term. * 29: Speedskater

Stefan Groothuis Stefan Groothuis (born 23 November 1981) is a Dutch retired speed skater. He is the World Sprint Champion for 2012 and the gold medal winner in the 1000 metres at the 2014 Winter Olympics. Career Groothuis, a specialist in the middle distances ...

wins the world championship sprint at the

Olympic Oval The Olympic Oval in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, is North America's first covered speed skating oval; it was built for the 1988 Winter Olympics and opened on September 27, 1987.Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, maki ...

February

* 1: The banks completely switch to SEPA for credit transfers. * 3-4: Heavy snowfall causes many problems on the road in The Netherlands and other parts of Europe. * 10: After hackers put the supposed data of hundreds of KPN customers online, at least 2 million customers have their mailboxes blocked for a day. * 17:

Prince Friso of Orange-Nassau A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. ...

is caught in an avalanche whilst skiing in Lech, Austria; the accident results in a severe brain injury that leaves the prince in a coma. * 18: The Dutch polonaise record was broken in the Brabanthallen in

's-Hertogenbosch s-Hertogenbosch (), colloquially known as Den Bosch (), is a city and municipality in the Netherlands with a population of 157,486. It is the capital of the province of North Brabant and its fourth largest by population. The city is south of ...

. It first stood at 1100 and is now bested with 1723 participants. * 20: Labour Party politician

Job Cohen Marius Job Cohen (; born 18 October 1947) is a retired Dutch politician and jurist who served as Mayor of Amsterdam from 2001 to 2010 and Leader of the Labour Party (PvdA) from 2010 to 2012. Cohen studied Law at the University of Groningen obt ...

announces to step down as party leader and chair of the congress fraction.

March

* 3: The first

Apple Store The Apple Store is a chain of retail stores owned and operated by Apple Inc. The stores sell various Apple products, including Mac personal computers, iPhone smartphones, iPad tablet computers, Apple Watch smartwatches, Apple TV digital me ...

in The Netherlands opens in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

. * 6: Teachers protest in the Amsterdam ArenA against announced cutbacks of 300 million euro. * 20: Politician

Hero Brinkman Hero Brinkman (born 29 December 1964, in Almelo) is a police officer and former Dutch politician. He was a member of parliament from 30 November 2006 to 19 September 2012, after being elected as the number four on the electoral list for the Part ...

leaves the

Party for Freedom The Party for Freedom ( nl, Partij voor de Vrijheid, PVV) is a nationalist, right-wing populist political party in the Netherlands. Founded in 2006 as the successor to Geert Wilders' one-man faction in the House of Representatives, it won nin ...

(PVV) and continues in congress as an independent member. * 30: Because of structurally disappointing ad revenues, the free daily newspaper De Press prints its final edition.

April

* 2: The

Friesland Bank Friesland Bank was a Dutch retail bank originally focusing on the northern provinces of the Netherlands, Friesland, Groningen, Drenthe, Overijssel, and North Holland. On 2 April 2012 Friesland Bank announced that it would become a 100% daughter ...

is no longer capable to run as an independent bank and is taken over by the

Rabobank Rabobank (; full name: ''Coöperatieve Rabobank U.A.'') is a Dutch multinational banking and financial services company headquartered in Utrecht, Netherlands. The group comprises 89 local Dutch Rabobanks (2019), a central organisation (Raboban ...

. For the time being, the bank is run as a subsidiary of the Rabobank. * 4: Phone and internet traffic is disrupted for many customers of

Vodafone Vodafone Group plc () is a British multinational telecommunications company. Its registered office and global headquarters are in Newbury, Berkshire, England. It predominantly operates services in Asia, Africa, Europe, and Oceania. , Vod ...

in the southern part of the

Randstad The Randstad (; "Rim" or "Edge" City) is a roughly crescent-shaped conurbation in the central-western Netherlands, consisting primarily of the four largest Dutch cities (Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, and Utrecht); their suburbs, and many tow ...

, because of a fire in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte (river), Rotte'') is the second largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the Prov ...

. * 5: Start of the Floriade in Venlo. * 8: In Espelo,

Overijssel Overijssel (, ; nds, Oaveriessel ; german: Oberyssel) is a province of the Netherlands located in the eastern part of the country. The province's name translates to "across the IJssel", from the perspective of the Episcopal principality of U ...

, a new world record is established by creating the highest bonfire ever. The bonfire had a height of 45,98 meters and a width of 160 meters. * 11: The Parliamentary survey into the Financial System reveals that the Dutch government made some serious mistakes in 2008, during the rescue of Fortis,

ABN AMRO ABN or abn may refer to: Companies * ABN AMRO Group, a Dutch bank group * ABN AMRO, sometimes referred to as "ABN" in shorthand, is a Dutch state-owned bank * Algemene Bank Nederland, a now-defunct Dutch bank Radio, news and television organizati ...

and ING with billions of euros during the financial crisis, according to the published report of the De Wit Commission. * 17-19: The Turkish president

Abdullah Gül Abdullah Gül (; ; born 29 October 1950) is a Turkish politician who served as the 11th President of Turkey, in office from 2007 to 2014. He previously served for four months as Prime Minister from 2002 to 2003, and concurrently served as bo ...

comes for a state visit to The Netherlands because of 400 years of friendly relations between the two countries. In 1612, the capitulation treaty between the

Dutch Republic The United Provinces of the Netherlands, also known as the (Seven) United Provinces, officially as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands ( Dutch: ''Republiek der Zeven Verenigde Nederlanden''), and commonly referred to in historiograph ...

and the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University ...

was signed. The state visit starts off on the Dam in Amsterdam. * 21: Negotiations fail over new budget cuts; CDA, VVD and PVV can't agree on billions in cuts. PVV leader

Geert Wilders Geert Wilders (; born 6 September 1963) is a Dutch politician who has led the Party for Freedom (''Partij voor de Vrijheid'' – PVV) since he founded it in 2006. He is also the party's leader in the House of Representatives (''Tweede Kamer'' ...

leaves the

Catshuis The Catshuis (English: Cats House), initially known as Huis Sorgvliet (Sorgvliet House), is the official residence of the Prime Minister of the Netherlands. Built between 1651 and 1652 for Jacob Cats as private villa, it was renamed after him aft ...

and stops permitting the current administration. The fall of the first Rutte administration seems inevitable. * 21:

Sloterdijk train collision On 21 April 2012 at 18:30 local time (16:30 UTC), two trains were involved in a head-on collision at Westerpark, near Sloterdijk, in the west of Amsterdam, Netherlands. Approximately 117 people were injured, one of whom later died in hospital ...

: 2 trains frontally collide between Amsterdam Sloterdijk station and Amsterdam Centraal station, resulting in 1 fatality and 125 injured people. * 23: The Rutte I administration falls. Mark Rutte offers his resignation to the Queen. * 30: During Queen's Day, the municipalities of

Rhenen Rhenen () is a municipality and a city in the central Netherlands. The municipality also includes the villages of Achterberg, Remmerden, Elst and Laareind. The town lies at a geographically interesting location, namely on the southernmost pa ...

and Veenendaal are visited by

Queen Beatrix Beatrix (Beatrix Wilhelmina Armgard, ; born 31 January 1938) is a member of the Dutch royal house who reigned as Queen of the Netherlands from 1980 until her abdication in 2013. Beatrix is the eldest daughter of Queen Juliana and her husban ...

May

* 1: Street dealers increase disturbances on the streets when the "Weed Pass" is introduced in the provinces of Zeeland, Limburg and North Brabant. * 5: Dutch author David Pefko wins the Gouden Boekenuil, the most important literature prize in

Flanders Flanders (, ; Dutch: ''Vlaanderen'' ) is the Flemish-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to cultu ...

, for his novel "Het voorseizoen". * 7: Writer A.F.Th. van der Heijden wins the Libris Literatuur Prijs for his novel "Tonio".

June

July

* 1: Astronaut

André Kuipers André Kuipers (; born 5 October 1958) is a Dutch physician and ESA astronaut. He became the second Dutch citizen, third Dutch-born and fifth Dutch-speaking astronaut upon launch of Soyuz TMA-4 on 19 April 2004. Kuipers returned to Earth a ...

returns to earth after spending more than half a year in outer space. * 18: 2 cars are used in an assault on the municipal office in Waalre. The fire that follows destroys the building completely. * 22: The residents of approximately 180 homes are evacuated because of asbestos pollution in the Kanaleneiland neighborhood of Utrecht.

August

* 4: 13 people get injured and end up in the hospital after a sudden storm causes a marquee to collapse during the music festival of Dicky Woodstock near the village of

Steenwijkerwold Steenwijkerwold is a village in the Dutch province of Overijssel. It is located in the municipality of Steenwijkerland, about 5 km northwest of Steenwijk. Steenwijkerwold was a separate municipality until 1973, when it became a part of Steenwi ...

September

* 21: Project X Haren started as a public invitation to a birthday party on

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dust ...

, but ended up as a gathering of thousands of youths causing

riot A riot is a form of civil disorder commonly characterized by a group lashing out in a violent public disturbance against authority, property, or people. Riots typically involve destruction of property, public or private. The property targete ...

s on 21 September 2012 in the town of

Haren, Groningen Haren (; gos, Hoaren) is a town and a former municipality in the northeastern Netherlands located in the direct urban area of the City of Groningen. Haren is a typical commuting municipality with many wealthy inhabitants. It lies on the northe ...

. * 22: The

Stedelijk Museum The Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam (; Municipal Museum Amsterdam), colloquially known as the Stedelijk, is a museum for modern art, contemporary art, and design located in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

in Amsterdam is reopened by Queen Beatrix after a renovation period of 8 years. The museum has been expanded with a new futuristic extension (nicknamed "The bathtub"); it reopened for the public the next day. * 25:

Anouchka van Miltenburg Anouchka van Miltenburg (born 20 April 1967) is a retired Dutch politician of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD). She was the Speaker of the House of Representatives from 25 September 2012 until 12 December 2015 and served as a ...

(VVD) succeeds

Gerdi Verbeet Gerardina Alida "Gerdi" Verbeet (born 18 April 1951) is a retired Dutch politician and political consultant who served as Speaker of the House of Representatives from 6 December 2006 to 19 September 2012. A member of the Labour Party (PvdA), sh ...

(Labour Party) as chair of congress. With 90 of the 146 valid votes, she bested

Khadija Arib Khadija Arib (; ar, خديجة عريب; born 10 October 1960) is a Moroccan-Dutch politician of the Labour Party, who served as Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Netherlands from 12 December 2015 to 7 April 2021. In the 2016 S ...

of the Labour Party and

Gerard Schouw Adrianus Gerardus (Gerard) Schouw (born 30 December 1965 in Monster, South Holland) is a Dutch corporate director and former politician. As a member of Democrats 66 (D66) he was an MP from 17 June 2010 till 31 July 2015. He focused on matters ...

of D66.

October

* 5: The party leaders of

GreenLeft GroenLinks (, ) is a Green politics, green List of political parties in the Netherlands, political party in the Netherlands. It was formed on 1 March 1989 from the merger of four Left-wing politics, left-wing parties: the Communist Party of th ...

revoke their trust in fraction leader

Jolande Sap Johanna Catharina Maria "Jolande" Sap (born 22 May 1963) is a former Dutch politician and former educator and civil servant. A member of GroenLinks (GL), she replaced Wijnand Duyvendak as a member of the House of Representatives on 3 September 2 ...

after the disastrous result in the general elections. She steps down and so does the party executive committee the following day. * 16: During an art heist in the Kunsthal in Rotterdam, several paintings of

Pablo Picasso Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...

Henri Matisse Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor, but is known prim ...

Claude Monet Oscar-Claude Monet (, , ; 14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926) was a French painter and founder of impressionist painting who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it. During ...

Paul Gauguin Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin (, ; ; 7 June 1848 – 8 May 1903) was a French Post-Impressionist artist. Unappreciated until after his death, Gauguin is now recognized for his experimental use of colour and Synthetist style that were distinct fr ...

Meijer de Haan Meijer Isaac de Haan (Amsterdam, April 14, 1852 – Amsterdam, October 24, 1895) was a Dutch painter. In French the name was written Meyer de Haan. Biography He was born into a successful Jewish family of bread and matzo bakers who held to conse ...

and

Lucian Freud Lucian Michael Freud (; 8 December 1922 – 20 July 2011) was a British painter and draughtsman, specialising in figurative art, and is known as one of the foremost 20th-century English portraitists. He was born in Berlin, the son of Jewis ...

are stolen. * 22: Jos van Rey VVD quits as alderman of

Roermond Roermond (; li, Remunj or ) is a city, municipality, and diocese in the Limburg province of the Netherlands. Roermond is a historically important town on the lower Roer on the east bank of the river Meuse. It received town rights in 1231. Ro ...

and as a member of the Senate after being suspected of corruption and leaking information. The next day, the entire VVD fraction walks out of the municipal council coalition in Roermond. * 29: Political leaders Mark Rutte VVD and Diederik Samsom Labour Party report in a press conference that the negotiations between both parties about the coalition agreement are finished.

November

* 5: The heads of the Rutte II administration are sworn in at the Paleis Huis ten Bosch. * 9: After objections within the VVD, the coalition agreement of the Rutte II administration is revised. The announced income dependency of the health insurance premium is of the table. * 17:

Sinterklaas Sinterklaas () or Sint-Nicolaas () is a legendary figure based on Saint Nicholas, patron saint of children. Other Dutch names for the figure include ''De Sint'' ("The Saint"), ''De Goede Sint'' ("The Good Saint") and ''De Goedheiligman'' ("The ...

arrives in

. * 19: A suspect is arrested for the murder of Marianne Vaatstra in 1999. The suspect was found after a DNA kinship research.

December

*1: The 10th edition of the Junior Eurovision song contest takes place in the Heineken Music Hall in Amsterdam. * 6: Queen Beatrix officially opens the Hanzelijn (railway line between

Lelystad Lelystad () is a municipality and a city in the centre of the Netherlands, and it is the capital of the province of Flevoland. The city, built on reclaimed land, was founded in 1967 and was named after Cornelis Lely, who engineered the Afsluitdi ...

and

Zwolle Zwolle () is a city and municipality in the Northeastern Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of Overijssel and the province's second-largest municipality after Enschede with a population of 130,592 as of 1 December 2021. Zwolle is on ...

) with a ride in the Royal train. * 6: Co Verdaas steps down as state-secretary of Economic Affairs due to the commotion over his unlawful declarations during his time as deputy of

Gelderland Gelderland (), also known as Guelders () in English, is a province of the Netherlands, occupying the centre-east of the country. With a total area of of which is water, it is the largest province of the Netherlands by land area, and second by ...

. *9: The Benelux train between Amsterdam and Brussels is replaced by the high velocity train

Fyra Fyra (pronounced ) was an international high-speed rail service between the Netherlands and Belgium using the AnsaldoBreda V250 train. The service used the HSL-Zuid and HSL 4 railway lines to connect Amsterdam, Schiphol Airport, Rotterdam, Antw ...

. * 24: DJs Gerard Ekdom,

Michiel Veenstra Arjan Michiel Sander Veenstra (Almelo, 6 March 1976) is a Dutch radio DJ on KINK. He presents the program Michiel every Monday to Friday, between 9.00 and 12.00 Career He started with his own show at ''Regio FM'', the local radio station o ...

and

Giel Beelen Michiel Antonius Adrianus Beelen (born 25 May 1977 in Haarlem), better known as Giel Beelen, is a Dutch radio DJ and presenter, working primarily for public broadcaster VARA. Since 2004 Beelen hosted his own breakfast show ''GIEL!'' on national ra ...

collect €12,251,667 with

3FM Serious Request Serious Request is a family of annual multi-day, multimedia fundraising events for International Red Cross initiatives, typically hosted by radio stations in the week before Christmas. The project was begun in 2004 by Dutch public pop music r ...

2012. * 31: The GPD, the press agency of many Dutch and Flemish newspapers, sends its last message after 76 years of service. In 2013, publisher Wegener will start their own press service, making GPD lose its most important customer and cease existence.

Elections

Dutch general election, 2012 Early general elections were held in the Netherlands on 12 September 2012 after Prime Minister Mark Rutte handed in his government's resignation to Queen Beatrix on 23 April. The 150 seats of the House of Representatives of the Netherlands were ...

took place on September 12.

won the election.

Sports

*April 20–21:

Ellen van Dijk Eleonora Maria "Ellen" van Dijk (; born 11 February 1987) is a Dutch professional road racing cyclist, who currently rides for UCI Women's WorldTeam . Besides road cycling she was also a track cyclist until 2012. Van Dijk is known as a tim ...

wins both the time trial and road race at the

2012 EPZ Omloop van Borsele The 2012 EPZ Omloop van Borsele was the 11th running of the Omloop van Borsele, a women's cycling event in 's-Heerenhoek, the Netherlands. New this year was the introduction of an individual time trial, held on 20 April over a distance of . The ...

*August 25–27:

wins the

2012 Lotto-Decca Tour The 2012 Lotto–Decca Tour was the first edition of Lotto–Decca Tour, a women's cycle stage race in Belgium. The tour was held from 25 August to 27 August, 2012. The tour with an UCI rating of 2.2 started in Nijlen, and ended in Geraardsbergen ...

*October 21: Wilson Chebet wins the

Amsterdam Marathon The Amsterdam Marathon (branded Tata Consultancy Services, TCS Amsterdam Marathon for sponsorship reasons) is an annual marathon (42.195 km) in Amsterdam in the Netherlands since 1975. The road running, road race has a IAAF Road Race Label Eve ...

Deaths

*June 2: Jan Gmelich Meijling, Dutch commander and politician (b. 1943)

References

{{Commons category, 2012 in the Netherlands

Years of the 21st century in the Netherlands 2010s in the Netherlands