Netherlands expected to join Ireland in prohibiting most consumer fireworks as other EU countries debate crackdown
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indow-rattling explosions turned Yara Basta-Bos’s street into a “war zone” last week, but she was spared from the worst of the new year chaos she had seen in the past. A few years ago, the emergency doctor in Amsterdam had to treat a patient clutching their own eyeball after a firework blew it out of its socket.
“It feels like such a waste,” said Basta-Bos, president of the Dutch society of emergency physicians, adding that last week’s revelry resulted in more than 1,200 injuries – one-third of whom ended up in hospital – and two deaths. “Of course, fireworks are nice to look at. But the level of damage it’s causing in the Netherlands right now is just unbelievable.”
New year whistles, crackles and bangs may have troubled the Dutch for the last time, however, as a nationwide ban on most consumer fireworks is expected to take effect before the close of 2026. The move would make the Netherlands only the second European nation, after Ireland, to forbid a tradition that critics across the continent argue is wildly dangerous, terrifies pets and chokes cities with toxic fumes.
