International

Did you know that Greece is closed to vets from other countries? Foreign veterinarians are being refused work permits on the grounds that they are not sufficiently well-trained and because they would present their Greek colleagues with 'competition'. This means, of course, that everything that you have heard about recognition of qualifications within the EU and equal access to labour markets is, at least in this instance, so much moonshine. This is, in so many words, what SP Euro-MP Erik Meijer intends to bring to the attention of the European Commission.

The Dutch national parliament today voted in favour of a proposal from SP Members of Parliament Krista van Velzen and Hugo Polderman to suspend any further approvals of genetically modified crops for the European market. The success of the SP resolution means that agriculture minister Gerda Verburg will be obliged to vote against the approval of a type of GM soya modified to make it immune to the weedkiller Monsanto 98788 at next week's meeting of the EU Council of Agriculture Minister. She has in the past refused to do this.