International

Today the European Parliament approved a directive which will broadly mean business as usual for the chemical industry in relation to any products whose health risks are imperfectly understood. The so-called REACH proposal has been so diluted by the centre-right Christian Democrats of the European People's Party political group and their Liberal allies that it will have little impact. The assurance from the Dutch Christian Democrat Member Ria Oomen-Ruijten that even those critical amendments which had been successful would not, given the balance of forces, survive the votes in the Council of Ministers or the Parliament's own Second Reading (where they would need the support of more than 50% of all MEPs, and not just those attending) convinced the SP's Members to vote against.

Today in Strasbourg the European Parliament voted in favour of the so-called “Wijkman Report”, a policy document which asserts that nuclear power is a sustainable energy source and could provide a means to counter climate change. A proposal from the SP which stated the opposite of this won the support not only of the SP's own United Left Group (GUE/NGL) but also of most Greens and Social Democrats, but failed to gain a parliamentary majority.