International

'Unacceptable' is the reaction of SP Member of Parliament Paul Ulenbelt to the mass redundancy – affecting 2,175 employees of the pharmaceuticals firm MSD (formerly known as Organon) – in Oss, a town of just under 80,000 people in North Brabant, in the south of the Netherlands. "This is a disaster for the people who work there, for their families, for the 5,000 people employed in firms which supply MSD-Organon and for the future of many young people. Everyone understands that a firm which is no longer able to sell its products must close, but Organon is very much alive and kicking. It's totally unacceptable that a company should close because shareholders can make a few more percentage points of profit elsewhere."

The European Commission yesterday published a report on the retail trade in Europe. For the first time the Commission recognised the growing importance of the small shop, but SP Euro-MP Dennis de Jong notes with concern that this was not accompanied by any concrete proposals designed to strengthen the position of such shops. In De Jong's view, it's high time that Europe saw once again a fine-meshed network of local shops. "The Commission is correct to say that it is of enormous importance for the quality of life in villages, but also for the environment and for older people with reduced mobility, that we have not only hypermarkets and shopping malls, but also 'corner shops', where people can do their everyday shopping."