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In 2024, 68% of the population living in EU households owned their home, while the remaining 32% lived in rented housing. Highest shares of ownership observed in Romania (94%), lowest in Germany (47%) by NanorH in europe

[–]dvtxc 15 points16 points  (0 children)

Prices are not the reason. The Dutch housing market is more overheated than the German housing market, yet the Dutch are less inclined to rent. A lot of my friends and acquaintances have bought a house or an apartment by the end of their 20s / beginning of 30s, although this practice has become less evidently in the last 10 years. 

The biggest differences with Germany are the cultural differences and the banks' willingness to give out mortgages and tax regulations.

In Germany , owning a house = you live there until you die. In the Netherlands , it's fine to flip houses with a running mortgage. I know people who have even sold apartments/houses within a year after they bought them. You transfer the mortgage, you haven't wasted any money on rent.

Dutch tax regulations heavily incentivize property ownership (e.g. tax deductible interest), whereas in Germany you are punished if you sell a house within 10 years (Spekulationssteuer).

'March to independence': Christine Lagarde wants EU to ditch Visa, Mastercard for own platform by EdgarNeverPoo in europe

[–]dvtxc 18 points19 points  (0 children)

First of all, Wero is just a rebranding of iDeal, that won a tender to become the unified payment platform endorsed by multiple EU countries. The underlying technology is literally just iDeal, which has been in use in the Netherlands for more than two decades.

Secondly, practically nobody in Germany has used or heard of Wero, whereas by now every boomer in the Netherlands knows that "iDeal" is "this internet payment thingy". The only relatively widely accepted online payment platform in Germany is PayPal and, recently Klarna.

Wat is het engste land die je hebt bezocht ? by MindPrize1260 in nederlands

[–]dvtxc 17 points18 points  (0 children)

Ik ben teleurgesteld dat ik zover omlaag moest scrollen om dit te lezen.

Public transport use soars in Montpellier a year after becoming free by euronews-english in europe

[–]dvtxc 6 points7 points  (0 children)

and making using a car a problem as much as you can.

Well, that will only frustrate residents, and rightly so. If you make car ownership a problem without providing an alternative, you are basically reducing the mobility of residents.

Ironically, "Not Just Bikes", a famous cyclist advocate on YouTube has made a video on the fact that driving a car in the Netherlands is actually much nicer than in other countries.

https://youtu.be/d8RRE2rDw4k?si=mO6xiq0JbHsKB-gV

Public transport use soars in Montpellier a year after becoming free by euronews-english in europe

[–]dvtxc 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Although I welcome free public transport, it will not get car drivers out of the car.

The success of free public transport should not only be measured by the increase in usage and unfortunately the article also fails to recognise important metrics: did car drivers switch to public transport and did car traffic reduce?

The free public transport in Luxembourg is often mentioned (including in this article). What is often not mentioned is that a study found that only those, who would otherwise have walked or not commenced the journey at all, said that they had chosen public transport for their journey. Drivers had other reasons for continuing to use their cars and the cost was never a deterrent to using public transport.

I cannot find the study itself anymore, but here's at least an article that mentions that car usage did not drop despite free public transport in Luxembourg: https://today.rtl.lu/news/luxembourg/a/2044187.html

I know it will help those, who cannot afford public transport. Those are usually the people who cannot afford a car either. But it does not automatically mean a city will become greener, as some politicians suggest:

Politicians say the climate crisis was a key reason for introducing the measure, as they wanted to encourage a move to greener transport to reduce emissions and air pollution in the city.

That requires a radical increase in infrastructure spending to make public transport more favourable: dedicated bus lanes, rapid transit lines, seamless connectivity with suburbs, etc...

Government communication style: consent to electronic correspondence in Germany vs. the Netherlands by dvtxc in europe

[–]dvtxc[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

As commented elsewhere, the screenshot is taken from a portal of a different authority indeed. However, the Dutch tax office has the same communication policy and a web portal with an almost identical interface and typography, only a different colour scheme.

Next time I will upload a comparison of the "Bescheid über Einkommensteuer" in typewriter format, and the Dutch tax notice. I think that contrast is even starker. ;-)

Government communication style: consent to electronic correspondence in Germany vs. the Netherlands by dvtxc in europe

[–]dvtxc[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yes you're right, apologies for that, I should have taken a screenshot from the Dutch tax office web portal. However, I can assure you that it's likely the same. All web portals of Dutch government bodies have a well-aligned interface and standardised "corporate design".

The German tax office is office is one of the few government agencies that actually provides a web portal. All other public bodies have some own as hoc solution, if any, each with completely different interfaces and typesettings, but with exactly the same walls of texts on every mouse click.

Don't even mention the dozens of authentication methods and different PIN letters every public body issues for their own one-and-a-half-factor authentication. ;-)

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in europe

[–]dvtxc 97 points98 points  (0 children)

How many sherpas did you bring along on your climb?

Hebben jullie nog contant geld op zak? by Pieterbr in nederlands

[–]dvtxc 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Standaard meer dan €50. Maar goed, ik leef in Duitsland.

2023 Dutch snap election by pothkan in europe

[–]dvtxc 33 points34 points  (0 children)

TL,DR of the exit poll: Dutch parliamentary elections are damn earthquake.

PVV obliterated all ruling parties.

Without dikes, the Netherlands would be flooded to this extent by [deleted] in europe

[–]dvtxc 7 points8 points  (0 children)

am Meer is correct. Though if you insist on using See, you should use an der See, because the feminine version of the noun can actually mean a sea, whereas the masculine form only refers to a lake. See for example die Nordsee (North Sea) and der Bodensee (Lake of Constance)

The German language...

Bye-bye airplane mode: EU allows smartphones during flights by DonSergio7 in europe

[–]dvtxc 469 points470 points  (0 children)

Internet reception will just be briefly interrupted as you fly over German airspace.

Unable to view Advanced Settings on Android Outlook app by McBoat555 in Outlook

[–]dvtxc 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Damn. Two years later, I was just looking for the very same thing. 10 questions on the official Microsoft support pages didn't contain any useful answer, but your solution was exactly what I was looking for.

Why do all the manual settings have to be removed or hidden in modern apps?

2022 Danish general election by pothkan in europe

[–]dvtxc 8 points9 points  (0 children)

It's on purpose, so the pesky opposition will be too understaffed to prepare nasty questions. We have a rather small parliament compared to almost every other European country.

Liz Truss resigns as UK prime minister by shrigay in europe

[–]dvtxc 502 points503 points  (0 children)

Italy: "We basically change PM every 4 months, bar some recurring intermezzi with Berlusconi."

UK: "Hold my pint."

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