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Nieuws uit 2007

12 December 2007

SP supports ban on ‘healthy lollipop’ claims

The European Parliament voted today to approve a change in the rules governing health claims on food products. SP Euro-MP Kartika Liotard explained that "Fooling children into thinking that some lollipops are really healthy will no longer – eventually - be allowed. In my view, however, the proposal doesn't go nearly far enough, though it will certainly represent an improvement on the present situation."

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11 December 2007

Noise restrictions on NATO aircraft: 'Unacceptable' SP proposal accepted!

The government must close Dutch airspace to AWACS radar aircraft if NATO continues to refuse to update the planes involved by replacing their outmoded, noisy engines. Such was the gist of the proposal brought before parliament on Tuesday by the SP. Despite fierce opposition from the cabinet, parliament agreed. Outgoing Secretary of State for Defence Cees Van der Knaap, replaced in the recent cabinet reshuffle, had called the proposal "unacceptable", although Premier Jan Peter Balkenende's statement on Tuesday that it was "greatly inadvisable" was somewhat weaker.

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8 December 2007

Brussels' assault on unfair dismissal laws

Now that the liberalisation of labour laws protecting the rights of workers in the face of unfair dismissal has for the time being been removed from the agenda of the Dutch government, the PvdA (Labour Party), the centre-left element in the centre-right/centre-left coalition, appears to have won its first victory. But this is no time to lower one's guard. The real threat to these rights comes, in fact, from Brussels, where there is no question even of a stay of execution, let alone of a reprieve.

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6 December 2007

Hearing on Afghanistan: extra session organised by SP, Green Left and Troops Out

Today saw the organisation by the parliamentary groups of the SP and the Green Left, in cooperation with the Troops Out of Afghanistan Committee, of a hearing on Uruzgan, the troubled Afghan province where Dutch armed forces are currently engaged. The event preceded a major official hearing of the Standing Parliamentary Committees on Defence and on Foreign Affairs, planned for the following day, at which critics of the recently decided prolongation of the Dutch military mission have been excluded from the roster of speakers.

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6 December 2007

Nuclear Weapons on Dutch Soil: Labour Party must add deeds to words

Krista van Velzen, SP Member of Parliament and the party's spokeswoman on defence and disarmament, is "delighted", she says, that Labour (PvdA) mayors have added their voices to calls for American nuclear weapons to be removed from the Netherlands. Those endorsing the call include the Mayor of Uden, where the weapons are located. The Dutch Labour Party mayors were joined by colleagues from towns and districts harbouring US nuclear weaponry in a number of other NATO countries including Germany, Belgium, Italy and Turkey. On Tuesday parliament will vote on a motion presented by the SP calling for the removal from the Netherlands of all nuclear weapons. Will Labour members support the motion and try to make the anti-nuclear weapon position tell, or will the Labour mayors' stance remain no more than lip-service?

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6 December 2007

SP: keep noisy NATO planes out of Dutch airspace

If NATO continues to refuse to update the engines of its outmoded AWACS radar planes, the Netherlands should close its airspace to these aircraft, argued Jan de Wit in parliament on Thursday. The SP Member of Parliament's proposal won support from a majority of his fellow MPs.

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