International

Tiny Kox, president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) made the following statement concerning the verdict issued in the MH 17 court case.

Housing associations are no commercial companies and therefore should not pay an extra tax intended for tax-evading multinationals. This is the proposal of SP MP Sandra Beckerman. Today, the Lower House will debate the housing budget. Housing corporations are institutions authorised by the minister to regulate our public housing system, and they should be working on lowering rents, improving and making homes more sustainable and building new houses.

'The cabinet's new asylum law is not going to solve the unequal distribution of asylum seekers between rich and poor municipalities,' said SP MP Jasper van Dijk. The poorest 25 per cent of municipalities are already hosting 11,000 refugees this year, while the richest 25 per cent are hosting only 3,300. This inequality is not going to decrease.

This month will see the debate on the Future of Pensions Bill. SP MP Bart van Kent: 'If it is up to the government coalition and PvdA/GroenLinks, it will be an uncertain future with casino pensions linked to the up-and-down of the market. We will not accept that uncertainty and worsening.’

An initiative bill by the SP together with the ChristenUnie, PvdA, GroenLinks, Volt and D66 aims to reduce the international wrongdoings of child labour, modern slavery and environmental damage. The parties want companies operating in the Netherlands to be obliged to do international business with respect for human rights and the environment. This should create a level playing field for business, so that all companies will start to detect and remedy abuses.

The SP is 50. That means we have been standing up for human dignity, equality and solidarity for fifty years.

A victory in the fight against child poverty during the general political consultations in the Senate. SP group chairman Rik Janssen called attention to this problem at the start of his speech. A passage in the budget suggested that the cabinet was giving an opening to make the targets around reducing child poverty less harsh.

Today Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky addressed the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, at the invitation of Assembly President Tiny Kox.

Energy bills have to come down. Energy is a basic necessity. Everyone needs energy, as cheaply and as cleanly as possible. Since our energy supply has been privatised the public has no say in it. Commercial firms raise energy bills and get rich, while we are left out in the cold. This has to change.