International

The ink on the referendum result is hardly dry and yet the European train is already rumbling onwards at full speed. This morning the Netherlands' European Commissioner Neelie Kroes declared that “the Dutch all want to see a free market in services.” Obviously the significance of the Netherlands' No has not sunk in. SP Euro-MP Kartika Liotard: “With her blinkers on she's going to get on with forcing through the Bolkestein Directive, a typical reaction from the political elite.”

The Netherlands' NO – three days after the French NO – has served as a loud wake-up call for politicians in Brussels and the Dutch capital, The Hague. The situation brought about by these results – for the time being, at least, a halt to any further European integration – should force politicians to look at how the gap between what they want and what the citizens want can be closed. That this is happening is to be welcomed. Long-standing contempt for the popular will was bound to lead sooner or later to derailment and stagnation. The SP is proposing a National Convention in which the party can discuss the future of the Netherlands in Europe with the country's citizens.