Jordan censures Dutch envoy for 'interference' in radio license row

By Laith Al-Jnaidi and Mehmet Nuri Ucar

AMMAN (AA) – In a tiff over a radio license application, Jordan has condemned the Dutch ambassador to the country for interfering in internal matters.

Dutch envoy Harry Verweij requested a radio broadcast license for a citizen of a third country during a courtesy meeting with State Minister for Media Affairs Faisal al-Shboul, according to Jordan’s Foreign Ministry.

The ministry said it summoned the Dutch ambassador and “strongly” condemned his “interference in the country’s internal affairs.”

The director of the ministry’s Europe wing told Verweij that the government was “astonished” by the ambassador’s interference in a radio license application for a non-Jordanian and non-Dutch person, Jordan’s official news agency Petra reported.

The envoy was told that such applications are “processed according to laws and regulations in force and with ‘absolute’ transparency … (and) it was ‘incomprehensible’ that an ambassador representing a friendly country interfered in a matter governed by Jordan’s laws,” the report said.

The incident has also drawn a reaction from the UAE, where the Foreign Ministry summoned the Dutch ambassador to the country to “protest interference” in Jordan’s internal matters.

A ministry statement conveyed solidarity with Jordan and “expressed its strong protest against the irresponsible statement breaching diplomatic norms that was made by the Dutch ambassador.”

Verweij’s statement “is considered a blatant interference in the internal affairs” of Jordan, it added.

* Writing by Zehra Nur Duz​​​​​​​