International

Solidarity seems a rare commodity in the Dutch Antilles. The Antilles has both deep poverty and extreme wealth. The islands' multimillionaires pay almost no tax and thus make no contribution to their society's improvement. The major islands of Curaçao and St Martin are seeking more independence and have hopes that the Netherlands will take over their debts of €2.2 billion. The SP can give no support to these ambitions as long as the rich of the Antilles are willing to let their poorer compatriots rot.

SP Member of Parliament Harry van Bommel is to ask Prime Minister Jan-Peter Balkenende to offer his apologies to the Surinamese people for the Netherlands' history of slavery in the country. The SP's spokesman on foreign affairs is urging the Premier to use the occasion of his forthcoming visit to do this, 145 years after the abolition of slavery in the Dutch colonies. To date, no such apology has ever been officially offered to Surinam.