SP Opposes Payment of Subsidies to European Political Parties
SP Opposes Payment of Subsidies to European Political Parties
The SP's members in the European Parliament voted today against the payment of subsidies to European political parties. The party finds the proposal to increase such subsidies by 85% completely unacceptable, seeing no need for these parties, and certainly not if, as is the case, they are established on the initiative of Brussels. The SP is also opposed to the encouragement of EU-wide campaigns in the European Parliament elections, in place of the national campaigns which are currently the norm.
Explaining the party's position, SP Euro-MP Erik Meijer said that: "Political parties should be created from the grass roots, by people working together for a particular view of the direction which they want society to take. They should not be a sort of component of the state, and should therefore not be a creation of tax revenues."
The SP is an enthusiastic supporter of international cooperation, including cooperation by political parties from different countries, but is of the opinion that no EU subsidy should be needed to enable this. In the European Parliament and the Political Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), the SP participates in international parliamentary groups which work together towards the achievement of common goals. Indeed, its leader in the Dutch Senate, Tiny Kox, is also Chair of the United European Left group in PACE, while MEP Kartika Liotard is Vice-Chair of the GUE-NGL, the European Parliament's left group. It does does not, however, participate in a “European political party”.