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News 2013

18 December 2013

Use EU farm subsidies to defend environment and promote eco-tourism

SP Member of Parliament Eric Smaling wants the government to spend agricultural subsidies from Brussels more intelligently and direct them at defending the natural environment. 'I don’t support the payment of these enormous subsidies from Brussels,’ says Smaling, ‘but as they’re being paid anyway we could spend them in better ways, to stimulate organic and pesticide-free agriculture and eco-tourism. The possibility is there, so let’s use it.’

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17 December 2013

De Jong demands action on new Romanian corruption law

Last week, the Romanian Parliament voted to approve a legislative proposal to exclude politicians and lawyers from prosecution for corruption. Although Romanian President Traian Băsescu rejected the proposed law, it is the Parliament rather than the president which has the last word. The SP is demanding action from both the European Commission and the European Council, the body which directly represents the member states. ‘Yesterday Commission Vice-President Viviane Reding was still avoiding answering my oral questions,’ says SP Euro-MP Dennis de Jong. ‘She referred to the periodic report on Romania’s progress in relation to justice and the law which the Commission will bring out in January. We really can’t wait for that. I have now put urgent written questions in order to get them to meet immediately with the Romanian government regarding the situation which has arisen. The subject must also be discussed at the European Council, so that the Romanian Parliament will see that this won’t be without consequences for cooperation with Romania in the area of justice.’

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16 December 2013

First and foremost, don’t elect a European!

Harry van Bommel - When persons introduce themselves as ‘Europeans’, I don’t trust them. ‘Europe’ is not a country, there is no ‘European people’, ‘European’ is not a language, and there’s no ‘European’ culture. People depicting themselves as European are expressing with this designation a desired political ideal, of a United States of Europe.

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12 December 2013

No support for Mali mission

The SP will not be supporting Dutch participation in the UN force being deployed in Mali. There is insufficient confidence that the stated goals, which include restoration of state authority and reconciliation between the warring parties, will be achieved via a military mission. In the view of SP Member of Parliament Harry van Bommel, ‘the solution will not be brought closer by commandos hunting fighters in Mali’s north while at the same time negotiations on reconciliation are conducted with them.’

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12 December 2013

Council of Europe wants to continue with special relationship with Palestine

The Council of Europe wants to continue its special relationship with Palestine. A proposal to that effect from SP Senator Tiny Kox attracted unanimous support from the political committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), which represents the peoples of the countries affiliated to Europe’s biggest treaty-based organisation.

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10 December 2013

SP leader Emile Roemer signs Nelson Mandela condolence register

Tuesday morning SP leader Emile Roemer, in the presence of South African ambassador to the Netherlands Peter Goosen, signed the condolence register at the embassy in The Hague. The SP leader was accompanied by SP Senate chief Tiny Kox and Harry van Bommel, the party’s spokesman on foreign affairs.

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