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Europe

17 July 2016

And then of course there’s still the refugee crisis…

Brexit, terror in Nice, an attempted coup in Turkey: developments follow one on another so rapidly that you could almost forget that there’s also still a refugee crisis. Newly-published statistics from the European Commission and answers to questions from the European Parliament from the responsible Commissioner which tell us nothing show that there remain tens of thousands of people without adequate reception facilities, or with no accommodation at all, amongst whom are thousands of unaccompanied minors. Things are not going well, especially in Italy.

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10 July 2016

EU broken by the banks

In the aftermath of the Brexit referendum, the EU is creaking at the joints. Support for it is crumbling away. And what are the banks doing? Engaging former president of the European Commission Jose Barroso as the new man at Goldman Sachs. At the same time a ‘top economist’ from Deutsche Bank is implying that the EU tax payer will have to fork out €150 billion to rescue the Italian banks, or the crisis will threaten to spill over to the rest of Europe. How dare they? For the banks it’s apparently ‘business as usual’, but they must have reckoned without the popular fury which is rising to boiling point in almost every member state and which could lead, if things continue in this way, to the end of this European Union.

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6 July 2016

SP Success: Netherlands will oppose establishment of EU Office for Public Prosecutions

Foto: SP

A parliamentary majority today decided that the Netherlands should oppose setting up a European Office for Public Prosecutions. This is a victory for SP Member of Parliament Michiel van Nispen, who has opposed the move from the start. “Fraud involving European money must be combatted effectively, but an EU Public Prosecutor is undesirable. Such an office is unnecessary for mutual cooperation and thus redundant. This can be achieved by making sound agreements. An EU Public Prosecutor would, moreover, lead to further transfers of powers. I’d rather cooperate to fight crime and retain the power at home to determine our priorities in the pursuit and prosecution of criminals.”

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5 July 2016

Canada Treaty will go to national parliaments

The SP is pleased that member states’ national parliaments will after all be able to participate in the decision about the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between the EU and Canada. European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker has agreed, under massive public pressure, to proceed on the basis of a ‘mixed treaty’ or ‘shared competence’, which means that the agreement of all twenty-eight of the member states’ national parliaments is required before the treaty is approved.

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5 July 2016

250 MPs demand involvement of national parliaments in CETA decision

Foto: SP

250 MPs from thirteen different member states have signed a statement demanding that national parliaments be given the right to debate the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between the European Union and Canada. Their demand for involvement was presented in a letter to the government of Slovakia in its capacity as holder of the EU’s rotating presidency. The statement was an initiative of SP Senator Tuur Elzinga. “CETA will have far-reaching consequences for these various countries,” Elzinga explains. “So it’s not a treaty which can be introduced behind people’s backs. National parliaments must have the chance to approve or reject the agreement. That’s democracy.”

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3 July 2016

Eurozone unstable whether or not Finns hold referendum on currency

In the spring the Finnish parliament debated giving up the euro and returning to the Markka. Originally it appeared that the Finns might hold a referendum on the issue this autumn, but since then it turns out that even the extreme right ‘True Finns’ party would rather wait to see what the consequences of Brexit will be for the UK and have ruled out a referendum being held this year. So it seems Finland’s speedy withdrawal from the eurozone is off the agenda, but the euro remains nevertheless a shaky project and the Finance Ministers of the countries which use it, presided over by the Netherlands’ own Jeroen Dijsselbloem, would do well to be better prepared for the eurozone’s disintegration than the British were for a possible Brexit.
 

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30 June 2016

SP Euro-MP Dennis de Jong “pleased with recognition of right to legal aid in EU”

Foto: Basvb

This morning the EU member states’ permanent representatives – Coreper, the body of civil servants which gives administrative support to the Council of Ministers – approved the compromise on the directive on legal aid which the Dutch EU Presidency had reached with the European Parliament rapporteur, SP Euro-MP De Jong. “I’m grateful to the Dutch Presidency and in particular Security and Justice Minister Ard van der Steur for the enormous effort they have put into this difficult dossier. The result isn’t perfect, but we have in any case a basis for legal aid in criminal proceedings in every EU member state. Access to this right must be guaranteed to all. We don’t want to see class justice.”

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29 June 2016

Juncker’s “CETA coup” shocking, says SP

he SP sees the announcement by European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker that national parliaments may play no role in the debate on CETA, the trade treaty with Canada, as a “coup d’état”. Not only is Juncker in this way bypassing the democratic process in the member states, he is also showing his unwillingness to wait for the official advice of the European Court of Justice.

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27 June 2016

Roemer: 'Brexit outstanding chance to build a slimmed down and democratic Europe'

Foto: SP

Brexit presents an outstanding opportunity for fundamental change in Europe, to get rid of competition between countries and build a slimmed down EU. A New Union, a union of cooperation between countries, instead of a union with diktats from Brussels. So said SP leader Emile Roemer during Monday evening’s debate on the Brexit.

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