Rafale for Royal Netherlands Air Force?

Hello,

You might have already discoursed upon that question, and if so I am really sorry to pop it up again, but I remember having read somewhere a couple of months ago that some big brass of the Klu had declared that they would rather buy the Rafale than any other production – read the F-35.
Eventually, the Dutch gov. decided to participate in the F-35 program, so that the question of the F-16′ successors was solved before even having been posed.
Does anyone have some information about that (I venture to think that I haven’t dreamt it all – though the Klu willing to go for French aircrafts rather than the usual US products might appear weird…)?
Why would the Dutch pilots go for the Rafale, rather than a usual US aircraft, and why would the Dutch gov. would go for an US aircraft rather than a European one? (That seems quirky at first glance, shouldn’t it be the other way around?)

Thanks a lot
Regards
Alex