International

The European Commission is taking a careful first step on the way to tackling the misuse to which farm subsidies are put by major landowners and multinationals. Today, however, the European Parliament voted yet again to weaken the Commission's proposals. SP Euro-MP Kartika Liotard: "We support the Commission in this and did not therefore vote in favour of the Parliament's proposal."

The SP spent the year following its huge electoral success of November, 2006 in a period of reflective self-assessment, and is now ready to take on the government and to explain itself through the media and to the people. The government should not expect to be able to count on kind treatment. “From now on we are not going to be doing them any favours,” says SP leader Jan Marijnissen in this recent interview with the financial and business daily, Financieele Dagblad.