International

“Why is the Employment Minister in such a hurry to complete the opening of our borders?” asked SP Member of Parliament and spokesman on employment and social affairs Paul Ulenbelt during today's debate on the free movement of workers. “The entire cabinet has spent its first hundred days in listening mode, but this minister is not listening to the trade unions, to the four biggest local authorities, to people living in horticultural areas who are seeing enclaves or ghettoes of foreign workers springing up around them.”

Half of transfrontier movements of waste are illegal and a significant proportion is damaging to human health and the environment. These are the conclusions drawn by SP Member of Parliament Remi Poppe and Euro-MP Kartika Liotard from an extensive investigation into the export of waste. “In the Netherlands we separate our waste and pay charges on the most damaging waste to ensure that it doesn't end up in the environment," says Poppe. "It's then up to waste companies not to dump it abroad or have it processed under extremely poor conditions.” The findings of the SP investigation were today passed on to Minister for the Environment Jacqueline Cramer.