Brabantse gedachten / Thoughts from Brabant

The debate in Holland heats up: yes or no for the EU constitution. Whereas many people are in favour of economic and political cooperation between the European countries, in Holland many believe we should keep some independence to preserve what we call typical Dutch rights and institutions. The government tries to persuade us that a 'yes' from the voters is necessary to bring Europa forward, to increase democratic rules, to have better security and terrorism-control across Europa. The 'no' proponents argue that new negotiarions between the dutch governmenr and the EU are necessary to make specific exceptions for Holland in the area of immigration-laws, social security and free import of labour from within the EU.
It seems that the 'no' voters are getting the upper hand.