International

The new cabinet is not going to solve people's problems. The fourth Rutte cabinet is an unreliable new start of the third Rutte cabinet. They are exactly the same parties, the same ideas and the same persons. How are they to provide solutions to the problems they caused themselves? They are unlikely to solve the benefits scandal, the housing shortage or the health care crisis.

SP Senator Tiny Kox hopes to be elected president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in January in Strasbourg. The Netherlands had this post only twice since 1949. Never has a politician on the left of social democracy in Europe been given such a prominent position. Kox is currently chairman of the parliamentary SP party in the Dutch Upper House.

The SP supports European Citizens' Initiative 'No Profit on the Pandemic' for the free availability of vaccines and treatments against COVID-19. The petition campaign is a unique cooperation between more than 350 social organisations and left-wing parties from all over Europe.

The government is failing in its corona policy. While a large part of the Netherlands is now vaccinated, more people than ever tested positive this week. The years of erosion of our health care is now visible to everyone. In the meantime, the (still outgoing) cabinet is sowing discord while perspective is needed.

'If no additional investments are made, drastic choices will have to be made and the organisation will have to shrink structurally', as the Minister of Defence stated in the Defence Budget for 2022. It is a sign that the tide is turning. It is time for a sharp change in policy. The hopeless outcome of 20 years of war in Afghanistan makes it clear that the era of Western wars of aggression is over. It is time for a different defence policy.

In Rotterdam on the 17th of October, we took a stand together against the housing crisis. We demand affordable housing. Houses are for people, not for profit.  Together we stood up against those who have turned our homes into a 'housing market'. But the profiteering from rents should end. In order to do this, we need to destroy investors’ power, cap rent, abolish landlord levies, and build affordable housing. 

The economic recovery from the corona crisis is causing an unprecedented rise in gas prices and a massive increase in energy bills. The average energy bill will rise by as much as 900 euros next year. If nothing changes, many people will have to prepare for a cold winter. More than half a million Dutch people already live in poverty, which means they can no longer pay their electricity bills. When it becomes colder, they will have to choose between cooking or heating. We cannot allow this to happen, and that is why the SP is putting forward seven proposals in the Dutch Parliament for an affordable electricity bill for everyone:

Ministers Kaag and Bijleveld resigned in September because of the slow evacuation of Afghans who risked their own lives working for the Netherlands. State Secretary Broekers-Knol was involved in this as the person responsible for refugee policy but felt she could stay on.
After an interview last weekend, in which Broekers-Knol again showed unwillingness to implement the wishes of the House, SP MP Jasper van Dijk had had enough: 'A State Secretary who constantly impedes the evacuation, and juggles with figures has lost the SP's trust. Three strikes and you are out. That is why I have tabled a motion of no confidence.'

SP senator Tiny Kox has been nominated as chairman for the parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe in 2022 and 2023. Following the rotation agreement between the five political groups, it is now up to the left-wing group to nominate a candidate.