May 21st, 2013 • The European Parliament and the European Commission called during today’s debate on tomorrow’s European Council meeting for concrete measures against tax evasion, an issue on which the Irish, currently holding the EU’s six-month rotating presidency, remain vague. SP Euro-MP Dennis de Jong stated the party’s position during the debate. ‘Even tax inspectors no longer get why ordinary taxpayers and small businesses have to pay their full whack while multinationals pay hardly any tax or none at all,’ he said. ‘If the European Council doesn’t tackle this tomorrow, they will lose all credibility.’

May 19th, 2013 • This week French President Francois Hollande launched his plan for a European government. Yet another politician going all out for a federal Europe. Yet just a few weeks ago the EU’s statistical bureau Eurobarometer published the latest figures on the confidence people have in the European Union. What do we find? In France the percentage who say that they have no confidence in the EU has risen from 41% in 2007 to 59%. Hollande simply ignores this mistrust. This is dangerous and affects every one of us, because at June’s European Council he will undoubtedly attempt to persuade his fellow leaders of the correctness of his ideas. Before you know it we will be a step further on the road to a federal Europe.

May 17th, 2013 • Sanctions against Burma have given effective support to the country’s democratisation process. Now, however, the big stick has gone.

May 17th, 2013 • Distributing flyers at a pharmacy in Castricum as part of the campaign ‘There’s no beauty in an occupation’, SP Member of Parliament Harry van Bommel and Nicole Hollenberg of the Palestine research and services group docP today called on shoppers not to buy goods which profit the Israeli occupation.

May 16th, 2013 • The Dutch government must hasten the rehabilitation of soldiers who disregarded orders while serving in colonial Indonesia.

May 15th, 2013 • During today’s parliamentary debate on freedom of religion and belief, Minister of Foreign Affairs Frans Timmermans stated his agreement to the call from SP Member of Parliament Harry van Bommel to draw the Iranian authorities attention to the perilous situation of the Baha’i community in their country. ‘For five years seven Baha’i leaders have languished in prison without justification, simply as a result of their beliefs,’ says Van Bommel. ‘I am extremely worried about this and am pleased that the minister shares these concerns and has agreed to ask the Iranian ambassador to give his attention to this. United Nations human rights experts called on Iran earlier this week to release these religious leaders with immediate effect.’

May 12th, 2013 • Scarcely noticed in the media, but nonetheless shocking: this week I received from the unequalled lobby watchdog Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) a copy of a letter which they had sent to the president of the European Parliament concerning the fact that the organisation of former MEPs is giving firms access to its annual dinner for a fee of €2500 for a table for eight. But more than that, they also offer guaranteed access to European Commissioner Cecilia Malmström, who will give the speech at the dinner, and the right to ask her questions. In the business world this sort of practice isn’t unusual, but it’s totally unworthy of an institution which professes to represent the people. It is, moreover, in conflict with the recently adopted code of conduct for MEPs and ex-MEPs.

May 11th, 2013 • Unfair competition, exploitation of foreign workers, and dangerous situations on the road, these are just a selection from the stories included in survey forms on the future of the transport sector completed by some 3000 Dutch truck drivers. ‘In recent years I’ve heard a great deal about the problems faced by truck drivers,’ says SP Euro-MP Dennis de Jong, ‘but the outcome of this enquiry is nevertheless shocking. Six out of ten do not believe they will be able to continue to drive trucks for a living, given the problems in the sector.’

May 10th, 2013 • Jan Marijnissen - On a warm Sunday morning people gathered in the centre of Oss, my home town, all of them men, all of Spanish origin. Everyone else had left town, either to go and enjoy themselves by the Maas or to do a little cycling around Herperduin. It put me in mind of lonely Sunday afternoons during my time at boarding school. What kind of a life must that be? Months away from home, far away from your wife and children?

May 10th, 2013 • SP Member of Parliament Harry van Bommel has expressed disappointment at the reactions which he has encountered in China in response to his concerns about the position of minorities there. ‘Reports from human rights organisations have shown time and again the serious abuses of rights, including those of the Tibetan and Uighur communities,’ says Van Bommel. ‘Political bigwigs in China tell me, however, that there’s nothing in these reports and that everything is going extraordinarily well. These reactions show clearly that when it comes to respect for the human rights of minorities in China there’s still a long way to go.’

May 7th, 2013 • SP Euro-MP Dennis de Jong is to ask the European Commission for an explanation of contacts between Commission staff and tobacco lobbyists.

May 7th, 2013 • On the second day of our visit to Beijing we met a number of creative people and political activists. Most striking was Ai Weiwei, the enfant terrible of the contemporary Chinese art scene. We met him in ‘art district 798’, named after one of the factories which once operated there. Nowadays it teems with art galleries and artists’ workshops.

May 6th, 2013 • SP Euro-MP Dennis de Jong is not satisfied with recently adopted bank legislation. ‘Without further new legislation there remains a real risk of a renewed banking crisis in Europe,’ he says.

May 5th, 2013 • Today, on Liberation Day, the anniversary of the end of the Nazi occupation of World War Two, the Netherlands is celebrating freedom. That’s important, but it strikes me that freedom is being interpreted in a quite restrictive way. No violence, no oppression, those are the key words. But are we truly free, if we look at the economy? How democratic is that, in reality? Banks that we really must help, even if they have long been guilty of irresponsible speculation; small businesses driven from the market by multinationals; workers who have little say over how their firm is run, even if they’ve worked there for years; and tenants who have to deal with commercial housing corporations. Is that freedom? Fortunately the discussion within the SP regarding the democratisation of the economy is well under way, because without democratisation there is no real freedom. Let’s pause to consider this. It’s a good day for such contemplation.

April 28th, 2013 • That the Troika has taken charge in Greece and is following a strictly neoliberal policy, these things we already knew. That public and social services in Greece are being smashed up in rapid tempo, this too we already knew. What’s new is that the international community is going to intervene. The UN rapporteur this week expressed sharp criticism of the breakup of social and public services, which he sees as a violation of internationally recognised human rights. At the same time the Council of Europe in Strasbourg ruled that the reform of the pension system in Greece is in conflict with the European Social Charter, which Greece as a member state is obliged to respect. In short, the Troika is violating internationally agreed human rights. If the Troika remains oblivious to this sort of critique, it won’t be long until the European Union finds itself a pariah in international human rights circles. Hopefully things won’t be allowed to get that far and the Greeks will be able to count on their basic rights being defended.

April 27th, 2013 • The European Union says that it wants to become a community of values, yet Hungary, a member states, isn’t taking the rule of law at all seriously, in the opinion of SP Member of Parliament Harry van Bommel.

April 26th, 2013 • Has the Netherlands not listened to the Council of Europe’s warnings regarding the treatment of asylum seekers in detention centres? This question was put by Andreas Gross and the SP’s Tiny Kox, presidents respectively of the European Social Democrats and the European United Left in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) to the Committee of Ministers of the pan-European treaty body, which monitors the protection of democracy, the rule of law and human rights in forty-seven member states.

April 26th, 2013 • Last Monday the EU decided to lift all sanctions against Burma, with the exception of an arms embargo. This was not an intelligent decision. The upsurge of religious violence within the country has not been adequately combated by the authorities. Pressure from abroad remains necessary to encourage Burma to continue to make progress, as there have indeed been positive reports regarding an independent press and the freeing of political prisoners; the EU is wrong, however, to abolish sanctions. Many major problems continue to dog the country.

April 25th, 2013 • If the present day world is a village, why are we doing so little about the fire raging in its centre? That was the question posed by SP Senator Tiny Kox today in Strasbourg, where the Council of Europe debated the lack of international aid arriving at the camps receiving the enormous stream of refugees from Syria. Neighbouring countries are carrying the burden while the world looks on, and that can’t go on any longer, Kox said.

April 24th, 2013 • The European Parliament today voted in favour of a proposal to allow the use in the pursuit of criminals of a European databank containing asylum-seekers’ fingerprints, a move to which the SP is totally opposed, as Euro-MP Dennis de Jong explains: 'When EURODAC, as this databank is called, was established, I was involved in this myself. It was a sensitive matter, but it was necessary to the functioning of the European asylum system. To use this databank for an entirely different purpose is not only in conflict with its original purpose but also totally undesirable. In a state where laws are respected, people are innocent until proven guilty; that principle is now being turned on its head: asylum-seekers and recognised refugees are in fact presumed to be suspect. This decision is stigmatising.’

April 24th, 2013 • The Single Seat campaign, which aims to bring to an end the monthly travelling circus that sees the European Parliament decamp en masse from Brussels to Strasbourg, is gathering steam. Yesterday the campaign’s steering group, which includes SP Euro-MP Dennis de Jong, sketched out its plans for the coming elections, as De Jong explains. ‘There is now a clear campaign strategy for the European elections in 2014,’ he says. ‘We are going to ask all candidates to sign a declaration of support for the campaign. As for any candidate who isn’t willing to do so, the public will know at least that he or she wants to stick to the current wasteful travelling circus. More than three-quarters of sitting MEPs want to put an end to it.’

April 23rd, 2013 • Details of all journeys undertaken by MEPs and paid for by third parties must be made public, the European Parliament has decided. Explaining the concerns which led to the decision, SP Euro-MP Dennis de Jong said, ‘Normally a member is not allowed to accept any gift worth more than €150. For gifts which take the form of reimbursing travel expenses, however, this limit doesn’t apply. A package holiday which claims to be a “study tour”, you can simply accept. That’s not good, because many lobbyists don’t hesitate to use this as a means of exercising influence. At the same time I would say that the new rule remains an important step forwards: Euro-MPs must now at least report this kind of gift, so everyone will be able to see who is getting invited on such trips.’'