International

The European Union has decided that energy corporations need not be broken up. SP Member of Parliament Paulus Jansen is therefore urging Economics Minister Maria Van der Hoeven to call a halt to the sale of publicly-owned energy firms Essent en NUON. On an initiative from the SP, Parliament today decided to schedule the affair for debate at the earliest opportunity.

According to Van Dale’s Groot Woordenboek der Nederlandse Taal (The Dutch equivalent of the OED, or Webster's), the word 'commissie' (Commission or Committee) has a range of meanings. It can mean "persons to whom a certain task has been given by an authority". In the Netherlands this would include, for example, the Davids Commission which is investigating the Iraq war. Or, further afield, the European Commission, which forms the day-to-day decision-making executive of the EU. The word 'commissie/commission' can also mean the fee paid to one given a commission. This is well understood in Brussels, where twenty-seven Commissioners each picks up a very nice 'commission' indeed.