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Nieuws uit 2008

22 November 2008

Little Willies

Jan Marijnissen1848. Europe is ablaze. Everywhere there is insurrection and revolution. The people want to see an end to the absolute rule of the monarchy. There are demands for 'power to the people', for democracy! In our country things stay reasonably peaceful, but King William II does not sleep easily. The insurrection could easily spread to the Low Countries. He had, after all, resisted every attempt at democratic adjustment. He is a truly conservative monarch, and proud of it.

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21 November 2008

'Nazi Ship': Government must not be allowed to duck the question

Economics Minister Maria Van der Hoeven must take immediate action against the Dutch maritime company Allseas which is planning to name a ship after a former SS officer. Van der Hoeven's ministry has invested more than €800,000 in subsidies in the planned 'Platform Removal Vessel Pieter Schelte', apparently overlooking the fact that Schelte was an outspoken Nazi.

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21 November 2008

EU residents must do Turkish military service

In Europe, men of Turkish parentage have a problem – conscription. If they don't want to go into the Turkish armed forces, they have to pay from €5.200 to €7.700 euro to be released from duty. Even then they are obliged to go through basic training involving three weeks in Camp Burdur, near Izmir. "If you live in the EU but retain Turkish nationality," points out SP Euro-MP Erik Meijer, "you are forced to do military service in what for you may be an alien culture in an army which, for example, has a record of violence against Kurds."

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20 November 2008

SP gives critical support to proposals to improve EU anti-fraud service

The Christian Democrat Ingeborg Gräßle has won the 'provisional' support of SP Euro-MP Erik Meijer (SP) for her report, presented today in the European Parliament, aimed at improving the work of the European Union's anti-fraud service, known by its French acronym OLAF. 'The SP supports this as a first step towards improvement, but not under the illusion that it will solve all of the problems associated with OLAF," Meijer said.

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20 November 2008

No further enlargement for NATO and the EU

Last weekend I paid a visit to the NATO parliamentary assembly, held in Valencia. There was fierce debate on the recent war between Russia and Georgia. Neither country is of course a member of NATO, but they attend the parliamentary assembly and even have speaking rights. The war was continued in Valencia by other means, not with weapons but with words, sometimes extremely hard words.

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19 November 2008

European Agriculture: 'A small step forward'

The European Parliament today used its plenary session in Strasbourg to debate the EU's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). Votes were taken on the issues of direct financial support for farmers, the extension of milk quotas and the proposed abolition of controversial export subsidies. "The SP stands of course for a radical reform of the CAP," said SP Euro-MP Kartika Liotard, a member of the European Parliament's Agriculture Committee. "The proposals which have won support here are rather thin, but nevertheless a small step in the right direction."

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