February 12th, 2012 •

February 12th, 2012 •

February 10th, 2012 • SP Senator Tiny Kox is in Russia once again to prepare for a Council of Europe observer mission, this time for the presidential elections scheduled for 4th March. He will report daily for the SP website.

February 10th, 2012 • SP Senator Tiny Kox is in Russia once again to prepare for a Council of Europe observer mission, this time for the presidential elections scheduled for 4th March. He will report daily for the SP website.

February 9th, 2012 • The European Commission’s proposal aimed at preventing abuse of workers from outside the member state in which they are employed has once again been postponed. The proposal would have ensured a better functioning of the posted workers’ directive, as it is known. Commenting on the postponement, SP Euro-MP Dennis de Jong explains that “the Commission is now extremely divided over the earlier leaked text. It’s clear that for some Commissioners the rights of workers are not a priority. The SP wants to see the Commission opt plainly and simply for equal pay for equal work.”

February 7th, 2012 • SP Senator Tiny Kox is in Russia once again to prepare for a Council of Europe observer mission, this time for the presidential elections scheduled for 4th March. He will report daily for the SP website.

February 7th, 2012 • According to United States Colonel Daniel Davis, the army command is lying about the results of the war in Afghanistan. In an article in the Armed Forces Journal entitled ‘Trust, Lies and Afghanistan’, whistleblower Colonel Davis openly questions how many people will still have to die in an operation that has been wholly unsuccessful. SP Member of Parliament and international affairs spokesman Harry van Bommel has applauded the colonel for his openness and intends to raise Davis’s views this week during an evaluation of the Dutch operation in the Afghan province of Uruzgan.

February 5th, 2012 • This week it became known that Goldman Sachs has big plans for the extension of its banking activities in Europe. Because many European banks are engaged in repositioning, whereby they are withdrawing from some of their riskier activities – even though they have not been forced to do so - space is being created in the sector. It is galling to note that one of the banks which nurtured this current crisis apparently has the wind behind it to such an extent that it can breeze still further into Europe. In this it will meet little resistance from either member state governments or EU institutions, given that an impressive number of EU big cheeses have or have had links to Goldman Sachs. This confirms once again the image of a Europe dominated by a network of bankers and business people. Happily this is striking ever more people and hopefully we can stand up against it. After all, this concerns nothing more or less than our democracy.

Caption: Bush appoints former Goldman Sachs director Henry Paulson as Treasury Secretary Source: Shealah Craighead, via Wikimedia Commons

February 4th, 2012 • SP Member of Parliament Harry van Bommel is urging the Ministers of Defence and of Justice to introduce compulsory registration of private military firms and the screening of mercenaries. The Dutch government makes use of the services of such companies but registration and screening are as things stand not obligatory if the work for which they are hired is performed abroad. According to a recent television documentary the result is that persons with a history of criminality can easily find employment with private military corporations.

February 3rd, 2012 • SP Member of Parliament Sadet Karabulut describes herself as ‘delighted’ with Home Affairs Minister Liesbeth Spies’ declaration yesterday that she is prepared to go to Brussels to discuss increasing the income threshold for social housing from its current level of €34,000. The ceiling has been imposed ostensibly to protect commercial landlords from unfair competition. “What a relief,” Karabulut says. “Spies will be acting on my motion, which was supported by Parliament, after a single debate, something which her predecessor neglected to do following debate after debate.”

February 3rd, 2012 • Every year in the European Union millions of animals are subject to laboratory tests aimed at establishing the safety of cosmetics, despite a decision in 2000 to ban the practice. The relevant EU directive came into force in 2009, but an exception was made for cases where no alternative existed. In such instances the ban will not come into force until next year. LUSH, which does not test its cosmetics on animals or use any animal products in them, opposes any extension of this, a stand which is supported by SP Euro-MP Dennis de Jong.

February 3rd, 2012 • Once again leaked pension plans have found their way into the hands of the SP’s European Parliament team. The second version of the leaked White Paper confirms that the European Commission plans to present a large number of proposals relating to pensions and, in the longer term, is determined to see a European pension policy.

February 2nd, 2012 • The European Parliament wants to see the European flag flying at all sporting competitions, according to a vote today on the EU and sport. The European flag was one of the symbols included in the European Constitution thrown out by referendum votes in France and the Netherlands and left out of the Lisbon Treaty. Now the European Parliament is calling for the flag to be hoisted at all sporting competitions and for sportsmen and sportswomen to wear the flag on their kit.

February 1st, 2012 • Almost a year ago, on 16th February 2011, Secretary of State for Infrastructure and Environment Joop Atsma gave his word that by 1st July 2012 all schools built before 1994 would be expected to have drawn up an asbestos inventory, stating where on their premises asbestos was to be found and in what condition. The promise was made in reaction to the discovery that in 25% of schools in which such an inventory had already been performed, dangerous loose fibres of asbestos had been found to be present, meaning that immediate decontamination was necessary.

February 1st, 2012 • NATO’s strategy to win the hearts and minds of the Afghan people is failing pitifully. This was the conclusion drawn by SP Member of Parliament and foreign affairs spokesman Harry van Bommel on the basis of a leaked report which reveals that the Taliban enjoy broad support amongst the country’s population. ‘There was always something fishy about NATO’s optimistic official statements on the progress of the war,’ says Van Bommel. ‘Now it turns out that NATO didn’t really believe in these itself.’

January 31st, 2012 • The PvdA (Labour Party) and the SP are urging a ban on bonuses for all banks and insurance companies in the Netherlands. In order to realize such a ban, the two parties will bring forward a legislative proposal.

January 29th, 2012 • This week in the European Parliament we will be debating for the first time new European Commission proposals on the tendering of contracts. This might seem a bit of a dull subject, but in fact it will involve every member of a local or regional council. Think for a moment of the fact that the home helps service has been ‘put out to tender’. In practice this meant that organisations providing care of this kind tendered such low bids that home helps lost not only wages but their dignity, while at the same time the quality of care declined. Local authorities could make savings, but at the cost of human dignity. Even under the present European rules this fanatical commitment to this approach to tendering was not compulsory, but the new proposals will make it easier to prioritise decent working conditions and conditions of service for the employees and the quality of care provided, rather than the lowest price. This will give the SP’s local and regional councillors more opportunities to reject plans to base decisions on public services on the lowest price, with no thought for human dignity.

January 28th, 2012 • ‘There are many reasons to be concerned over human rights in Europe in times of crisis’, according to SP Senator Tiny Kox. Meeting in Strasbourg this week, the Council of Europe held a debate on ‘human rights under pressure’ and the future of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). Also during the session, a new Commissioner for Human Rights was elected.

January 28th, 2012 • At the invitation of the Russian parliament the Council of Europe will send observers to the presidential election scheduled for March 4th. SP Senator Tiny Kox, who led the team for the recent parliamentary elections, will be in charge once again.

January 26th, 2012 • The SP will vote to reject the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) when it comes before the European Parliament in the near future. Recently concluded behind closed doors, the treaty’s aim is to improve protection of intellectual property rights and has already been signed by a number of parties, including the US and Japan.

January 23rd, 2012 • In his plea for a hard line against Iran, Paul Brill writes (Volkskrant 20-01-2012) that the West must prepare for a long-term embargo and “not begin to waver” when “reports of hungry children come from inside Iran.” That’s a remarkable opinion, given the effect on the Iranian economy of the sanctions which have already been imposed.

January 22nd, 2012 • Today I almost fell off my chair when I read the interview with my PvdA (Labour Party) colleague in the European Parliament, Thijs Berman, on the Dutch news and opinion website Nu.nl . In his opinion the SP’s plans would in the long term lead to tragedy, in the Netherlands but most especially in Europe. He adheres to the formula applied by all Europhiles, alleging that the SP is against Europe. Evidently the Europhiles are currently feeling so frustrated by the total lack of support from ordinary people, that they can offer nothing but lies and distortions in the hope of generating agreement. I can quickly disabuse them of this dream: contrary to what they think, many people in the Netherlands have given a great deal of thought to the question of Europe. They are keen to cooperate with other countries, but have had enough of the surreptitious manner in which ever more powers are being transferred to Brussels without they themselves being able to exercise any real influence on this process. In the EP I vote in favour of many sound European laws and the SP cooperates with others to work towards a fair, social and humane Europe. But we are not about to impose a ‘United States of Europe’ on our population, which has in fact absolutely no desire for any such thing. In my view this is what is known as democracy.

January 21st, 2012 • SP Senator Tiny Kox has been happy to note that in Moscow, from every side of the political spectrum, the need for political change is recognised. Kox warned the Russian authorities that changes must be ‘substantial and sustainable’ and not a mere ‘survival strategy’.

January 17th, 2012 • Environment and Infrastructure Secretary Joop Atsma is putting the economic interests of waste incineration firms before the need for a clean and healthy environment. That was the conclusion drawn by SP Member of Parliament Paulus Jansen following Tuesday afternoon’s parliamentary question time, during which the Secretary of State showed his unwillingness to impose enhanced surveillance on the import of waste from Italy or to close incineration plants in the face of overcapacity. ‘This destructive environmental policy is typical of the line set by Atsma over the last year. Just as in other areas, when it comes to processing of waste we are descending to a worryingly low level.’

January 16th, 2012 • From Thursday 19th January to the following Sunday, SP Senator Tiny Kox will be in Moscow to look into what lessons might be drawn from events surrounding last month’s parliamentary elections. Kox, who led the election observers’ mission, will now head a post-electoral team acting on behalf of the Council of Europe. Following his visit, the SP Senator will present his report on the elections to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, which meets in Strasbourg.

January 16th, 2012 • The Netherlands stands at a crossroads. Our economy is in a recession which threatens to descend into a crisis of enormous magnitude, a crisis which is costing jobs, putting wages under pressure and posing a threat to our pension provision, a crisis with huge social consequences, one which undermines solidarity and confidence in the future.

Emile Roemer, Job Cohen and Jolande Sap, are respectively leaders of the SP, PvdA (Labour Party) and the Green Left.

January 15th, 2012 • This week saw the results published of the most recent opinion poll of 26,000 citizens of the EU member states. Just as in the last survey, conducted in April-May 2011, poverty turns out to be the number one priority for around half of those interviewed. Second in the list comes a more coordinated economic policy, named by more than one in three respondents. Add these two stats together, and it isn’t hard to see that the existing agreements between the heads of government won’t wash. These are aimed exclusively at cutting spending and do nothing at all to combat poverty. A poverty test, assessing the effects of new proposals on low income individuals and households, is badly needed. Confidence in the European Parliament amongst the European public is weak, the survey also showed. If the EP wants to do something about that, then it’s time it presented a more social face. In the next few weeks we will be looking at whether, despite the right-wing majority in the EP, sufficient support can nevertheless be found for the imposition of such a poverty test when it comes to the implementation of the agreements on economic governance.