International

Harry van Bommel was today one of tens of thousands of people who attended the Liberation Festival in Wageningen, marking the end of the Nazi occupation on May 5th, 1945. He took part with Green Left MP Femke Halsema and others in a political debate on freedom and the role of the Dutch armed forces. Van Bommel argued that cuts in the defence budget would not mean that the defence department could not continue to play an important role in matters of peace and security. "The Netherlands should be making savings on the offensive parts of the armed forces," Van |Bommel said. "We should not be purchasing new fighter planes, and we could also get rid of part of the navy. You don't need bombers and warships for peacekeeping tasks." These views were the opposite of those expressed by outgoing Christian Democrat Secretary of State Jack de Vries, who wants to exclude the defence budget from the coming round of cuts.

“It's taking too long to ban cyanide in the mining of gold. It's a menace to our waters and biodiversity. Its use must stop forthwith." So says SP Euro-MP Kartika Liotard, one of the movers of a resolution aimed at getting the European Commission to introduce a ban on the use of cyanide in all mining operations.