International

The SP wants to see judicial and police cooperation between Bulgaria and the rest of the EU's member states halted, now that even the European Commission has said that it considers that corruption and crime there are not being satisfactorily addressed. Halting payments to the country from EU funds is, for SP Member of Parliament Emile Roemer, insufficient. "Despite the Commission's observations, a Bulgarian judge will still soon be able to demand that we extradite a suspect, and Bulgaria continues to take part in joint decisions on EU rules concerning judicial policy," Roemer says. "This just doesn't square up. First of all European minimum standards must be met, then we can talk about cooperation."

SP Member of Parliament Krista van Velzen describes herself as “astonished” by the lax attitude of Defence Minister Eimert van Middelkoop when it comes to the security arrangements for American nuclear weapons housed on the Dutch Royal Air Force force base at Volkel. “Investigators from the USAF have been visiting the various European air force bases where American nuclear weapons are housed,” said Van Velzen, SP spokeswoman on defence and disarmament issues. “Their conclusion was that not a single base came up to scratch on security measures. Van Middelkoop is acting just as if there's no problem at all. This seems to me, in the case of nuclear weapons and security, exactly the reaction we don't want to see. He should be going to the Americans and asking to be filled in on all the details.”