International

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.

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?