International

SP Member of Parliament and foreign affairs spokesman Harry van Bommel has told the centre-left Green Left party that their plan for a renewed military mission in Afghanistan will gain no support from the SP. Together with centrist liberals D66, the Green Left wants to see the government looking into the question of whether a police training mission, possibly under Dutch military protection, can be sent to Afghanistan in the coming months. According to Van Bommel, the proposal simply reproduces the kind of mission which led to the government's downfall in February.

The Dutch government must speak out at European level against the establishment of a European Interior Ministry, the equivalent of the British Home Office or US Justice Department. That was the demand put by SP Member of Parliament Krista van Velzen in a debate with Minister of Justice Ernst Hirsch Ballin. Van Velzen described herself as 'astonished' by the news that plans for such a 'ministry' at EU level were already in an advanced stage. "This is a step in the wrong direction, the transfer of such powers to Europe. The EU needs to improve cooperation in the fight against cross-border criminality, but a European Interior Ministry that can conduct independent investigations is unacceptable. The minister should reject this plan.”