International

Irish rejection of the Treaty of Lisbon, in the view of SP Member of Parliament Harry van Bommel, presents Europe with a tremendous opportunity. “It offers all member states the chance to have a real discussion about the future of the EU,” he explains. “The Irish 'no' means that the Lisbon Treaty is as dead as a doornail. The ratification process, which here in the Netherlands is halfway through, should be halted.” Van Bommel, who is the SP's parliamentary spokesman on European affairs and who played a major role in the Netherlands' own 'No' campaign three years ago, twice travelled to Ireland at the invitation of opponents of the Treaty to offer his support. He called on the Dutch government to respect the Irish people's decision in an unequivocal fashion.

In the privatisation of water supply in developing countries, the SP can see no kind of solution to the problem of reaching the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Agreed by almost every country in the world in 2000, the MDGs include a halving of the number of people living in extreme poverty and a halving of those without ready access to a safe water supply, both of which are targeted for 2015. In today's debate on the issue, the SP called on Development Cooperation Minister Bert Koenders to make more resources and more finance available for cooperation between publicly-owned water suppliers in the West and their counterparts in developing countries.