International

The SP party council today nominated Dennis de Jong to lead the party’s list of candidates for the elections to the European Parliament scheduled for next May. De Jong will, should his nomination be confirmed by the national conference in February, be running on a platform which includes a major reduction in the power of the European Commission, strengthening of the role of the broad public and of the member states, and a U-turn in the direction of social policy. ‘The SP wants a democratic Europe and not a technocratic Europe,’ says De Jong. ‘We want to see cooperation between the member states and will resist a central executive in Brussels. We want a social policy instead of a neoliberal policy.’

Dennis de Jong interviewed by SP Chairman Jan Marijnissen

Requested to do so, De Jong sketched out for the party council the contours of a European Union which in the SP’s view should come into being. ‘The European Union is, as things stand, overgrown. It takes decisions on matters which have nothing to do with it. We’d go through existing European agreements with a fine-tooth comb. Everything which could be better regulated locally or nationally we’d return to the member states. Countries would determine together which problems are tackled by the European Commission and the European Commission would implement these agreements.’

According to De Jong, the SP is the party for people who believe in human scale and human politics. ‘The SP is open to cooperation,’ he insisted. ‘We have no intention of closing the gates to our country because we see the utility of cooperation and of borders without barriers. But we rejected the European Superstate which some parties advocate as long ago as the Treaty of Maastricht, in 1993. We do not believe that central control from Brussels will make our society better. The Dutch people can decide very well for ourselves how health care, education and our budget should look.’

Dennis de Jong has been a Member of the European Parliament since July, 2009. Prior to his election he had been a diplomat and an official of various government ministries, of the European Commission and of the Dutch Permanent Representation to the European Union in Brussels. The SP National Congress in February will take the final decision on Dennis de Jong’s candidature.