International

Confidential European Commission papers leaked via WikiLeaks show that a transition to sustainable energy is being explicitly sabotaged in negotiations on the Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA.) In the chapter on energy-related services, making any distinction between sustainable and non-sustainable energy is forbidden. This means that the Netherlands, once the treaty has entered into force, will be obliged to open its market to any and every kind of energy, regardless of whether it is sustainable, produced from fossil fuels or even from nuclear power. The door will also be wide open to shale gas and tar sands oil. Commenting on the revelations, SP Euro-MP Anne-Marie Mineur says, “The whole world is looking in on the climate summit, hoping for an agreement which is good for everyone. This is being completely undermined behind the scenes by this services treaty, which is perhaps even more far-reaching than the TTIP.”

As many as three of SP Member of Parliament Eric Smaling’s proposals to improve development policy this week won majority support in the ‘Tweede Kamer’ (Second Chamber), the legislature’s equivalent of the House of Commons or House of Representatives. Commenting on the successes, Smaling said: ‘Three proposals relating to emergency aid, health care and education for the very poorest people were adopted. With these proposed measures we’re addressing not only emergency aid in the event of natural disasters, but also two of the root causes of poverty in developing countries.’

Next week, the Climate Summit will take place in Paris. A hundred and eighty countries will discuss measures to mitigate the rise in global temperatures, the aim being to ensure that storms, drought and flood don’t begin to dominate our lives. In order to achieve that, emissions of greenhouse gases, such as CO2, must be greatly reduced. The summit is an excellent opportunity to make progress towards moving from a fossil-fuel based to a sustainable society. The sooner, the better.

On Saturday thousands of people joined the demonstration against the notorious treaty between the European Union and the United States, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). SP Member of Parliament Jasper van Dijk was one of them, and he addressed the activists on just what was wrong with the TTIP. This is what he told them: