Sexual abuse of young children is a crime. But few Catholic priests who committed it will be standing trial anytime soon.

Most of the recently revealed abuse scandals took place decades ago. In many Western countries, including the Netherlands, they have exceeded the statute of limitations for such crimes.

To prevent this from happening in the future, the Dutch minister of justice has argued the statute should be suspended for sexual abuse, meaning perpetrators could be prosecuted indefinitely. As is already the case for crimes that carry a possible life sentence, such as murder. However, since the constitution does not allow for retroactive changing of the law, this proposed legislative shift would only apply to future cases.

The question remains how to deal with the clerics now accused of abuse. A prominent Labour politician, and Catholic, has suggested the institution of a “truth commission” charged with looking into scandals in the Netherlands. The Catholic Church has already set up a committee to hold a “completely independent” investigation.

What do you think is the best way forward? Should the public prosecution still find a way to go after the priests or should other measures be taken inside or outside the Church? Will suspending the statute of limitation for future crimes of the same nature make a difference?

This week, European leaders will meet to discuss how to tackle the ‘Greek problem’. With its deficit spiralling out of control, the Greek government budget has become not only a threat to the country’s own economy, but to the stability of the European common currency.

In the run-up to the meeting, a number of radical solutions have been openly discussed. On Thursday, German chancellor Angela Merkel suggested booting countries that broke the rules from the euro “as a measure of last resort”. Daniel Gros of the Centre for European Policy Studies in Brussels and Thomas Mayer of Deutsche Bank, had already suggested the institution of a European Monetary Fund that could provide liquidity deprived European countries with an influx of cash. This suggestion met with vehement resistance in Dutch parliament however in a debate last week. Dutch members of parliament asked acting finance minister Jan Kees de Jager to push for a solution involving the International Monetary Fund instead.

What do you think the European Union should do? Would not helping the Greeks only demonstrate the weak political foundations underlying the euro, weakening the currency further? Or would providing them with aid send the wrong message to other European countries that are in a financial pinch?

In a ruling last week, the European Court of Justice ruled the income requirement for Dutch residents to bring their partners from abroad was a clear violation of European laws for family reunification.

Since 2004, anybody who wants to bring his or her partner to live in the Netherlands needs to earn at least 120 percent of the minimum wage.  This condition effectively makes it impossible for people on welfare to marry a foreigner and live together in the Netherlands, but also excludes students and those working part-time.

The income requirement is but one of many introduced in recent years by the Dutch government that has been looking to limit immigration in general. Foreigners looking to marry a Dutch resident are now required to complete a language and citizenship test in their country of origin for instance. In addition, both partners now need to be at least 21 years of age.

What do you think? Is it reasonable to place demands on people looking to bring their spouses to other countries? Or is the right to marry whoever one pleases an inalienable one? If you have personal experience with this, please share it.

Wednesday’s local election results show the Netherlands’ electorate has grown ever more fractured. Traditional parties are losing ground and Geert Wilders’ populist Party for Freedom (PVV) garnered a spectacular amount of votes in the two cities where it participated.

Although local results cannot be translated to the national level for a number of reasons a few predictions can be made based on them. The upcoming election campaign is likely to focus on the battle between CDA prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende and Labour leader Wouter Bos, with anti-Islamic Wilders as the strong third competitor.

Whoever wins the popular vote, the big challenge after the June 9 election will be the formation of a coalition government. The Christian Democratic/Labour government that fell last month won’t return. Bos has ruled out a coalition with Wilders. Balkenende is keeping his options open, but doesn’t look to keen to partner with the populist leader either.

Three scenarios were mentioned in an NRC Handelsblad analysis: a three party coalition composed of CDA, PVV and right-wing liberals VVD, a revival of the ‘Purple’ (Labour, VVD and left-wing liberal D66) coalition that was in power from 1994 to 2002 augmented by GroenLinks, or a minority coalition, as is common in Denmark.

What do you think? Are any of these scenarios likely? What could be an alternative?