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Blog Dennis de Jong

5 February 2012

Dennis de Jong:

Coup d’état by Goldman Sachs?

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.

29 January 2012

Dennis de Jong:

Putting public contracts out to tender

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.

22 January 2012

Dennis de Jong:

Europhiles in distress

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.

15 January 2012

Dennis de Jong:

For half of European public, fight against poverty is top priority

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.

8 January 2012

Dennis de Jong:

Clear opportunity for passengers’ rights

Tomorrow in the Internal Market Committee we will vote on airline passengers’ rights. In the Netherlands there has been a great deal of fuss about this. Claims from passengers are almost routinely rejected by the airline companies as a result of the alleged lack of clarity over what precisely passengers’ rights involve. The European Parliament is now trying to get rid of this confusion and in order to do this has adopted an approach which puts the passengers’ interests to the fore. The hope is therefore that this summer it will be easier for people travelling to and from holiday destinations to receive compensation without too much rigmarole.

1 January 2012

Dennis de Jong:

Happy New Year!

Dennis de Jong 2012 could well be just as turbulent as 2011, or perhaps even more so. It may seem peaceful in the eurozone, but as yet there have been no truly structural solutions. Meanwhile, poverty and unemployment spread and the whole of Europe remains wedded to deep austerity, which can only make the problem worse. That’s why I say, at the top of my voice: let’s make this a Happy New Year, for example through early elections in the Netherlands and a referendum at last on all the measures within the framework of a federal European Economic Governance. Two New Year’s Resolutions to start us off.

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