International

The SP is completely unimpressed by the ‘interpretative declaration’ which European Commissioner for trade Cecilia Malmström is offering in response to the justified objections which four Belgian regional parliaments – representing respectively Walloons, Francophones, German-speakers and the capital region of Brussels – have raised against the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA). Without the approval of the Walloon Parliament, currently withheld, Belgium cannot agree to it, and this will mean that the European Union will also be unable to agree to the treaty.

While the TTIP negotiations have been postponed, the implementation of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) with Canada has been fast-tracked, with the treaty’s signing having been fixed for 27 October. CETA comes down to TTIP via the back door, because most US corporations have subsidiaries in Canada. Major claims for damages can therefore be made just as easily against the Netherlands via CETA as via TTIP. That’s why we are demonstrating in Amsterdam on 22 October and why we are calling on trade minister Lilianne Ploumen not to approve the agreement.

The gambling industry continues to run the former Dutch colonies of Curaçao and Sint Maarten. The islands, now autonomous regions of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, must escape from under this shadow if they are to become mature democracies.

The binding declarations which the European Commission is seeking to formulate have no legal worth and will not help get rid of the problems of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between the EU and Canada, according to renowned Canadian lawyer Steven Shrybman of Goldblatt Partners. SP Euro-MP Anne-Marie Mineur argues that only a resumption of negotiations on the text of the treaty can make a real difference.

The former Prime Minister of Curaçao, Gerrit Schott has been sentenced to three years in prison. Yet he has managed to still participate in the upcoming elections and according to the polls, his party will come out as the biggest one. This means that the possibility is there that this coming Wednesday a convicted felon, a puppet of the gambling industry, will be back in parliament.

SP Euro-MP Anne-Marie Mineur is calling on European Commissioner Cecilia Malmström to put an immediate stop to negotiations on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). Jasper van Dijk, an SP Member of the national Parliament in The Hague, is issuing the same appeal to Trade Minister Lilianne Ploumen. In an interview with German television, the country’s Minister for Economic Affairs Sigmar Gabriel acknowledged that since the start of the talks agreement has not been reached on a single chapter. According to Gabriel this is because the European Union will not accede to the Americans’ demands. The SP has opposed the trade treaty with the United States, as well as the CETA, the similar agreement with Canada, since the very start.

On 8th and 9th July Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, Foreign Minister Bert Koenders and Defence Minister Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert will attend the NATO summit in Warsaw. Every indication is that the military alliance will seize the opportunity of the summit to escalate still further the already mounting tensions with Russia. It is of huge importance that this is prevented.

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.