International

SP Member of Parliament and foreign affairs spokesman Harry van Bommel says that he “can live with” the decision by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence to delay to a later date a debate on the alleged abuse of Iraqi prisoners. Parliament will first present the government with a number of written questions soliciting information on the matter, and no decision will be taken on further action until next Monday.

From 2008 vans used by painting firms to ferry personnel and materials to the worksite will be required, as is already the case for buses and lorries, to be fitted with a tachograph, an instrument for monitoring driving times. Some small firms are currently exempt from such an obligation, and exemption will continue to apply to certain sectors, such as garden maintenance. Painting firms will, however, come under the new regulation, and this European Union-imposed obligation will cost small companies dear, creating both additional expense and additional paperwork. Commenting on the new law, SP Euro-MP Erik Meijer, spokesman on transport affairs for the United Left Group in the European Parliament, sympathised with the arguments of the employers’ organisation for the sector when he said that while “protection of drivers against being forced to drive too many hours and consequent fatigue is excellent, unnecessary burdens imposed by carelessly drafted EU legislation are certainly not.”