International

Kartika Liotard participated yesterday in a forum discussion following the showing of the film Gen zoekt Boer ("Gene Seeks Farmer") in the Amsterdam film centre, the Cavia. The title of the film, a play on the name of a popular Dutch TV show, refers to the pressure put on farmers to endorse and use genetically modified crop plants. "After our actions against the latest permit application from Monsanto for field trials of genetically manipulated maize, we are looking at where we can take the campaign," said Liotard. "Together with Greenpeace and the environmentalist group A Seed, we will take this if necessary all the way to the Council of State" -the Dutch Supreme Court - "to keep this Frankenstein maize out of the Netherlands."

In its newly-issued discussion document on urban mobility, the European Commission has given almost no attention to cyclists and their needs. For SP Euro-MP Erik Meijer, coordinator on the European Parliament's Transport Committee for the United European Left parliamentary group, this simply isn't good enough. Describing the omission as a "considerable oversight", Meijer explains that, together with other sympathetic MEPs, he will be trying "to fill this gap with our own proposal, expressing the views of the EU Cyclist Group." The EU Cyclist Group brings together MEPs with employees of the EU institutions to campaign for improved facilities for cyclists. Meijer first presented his proposal earlier this week at a lively meeting and reception held to welcome the Group's 1000th member.