International

According to SP member of Parliament Harry van Bommel, Parliament must interview former Foreign Minister Jaap de Hoop Scheffer in public in relation to the Davids Commission report, which found that the government of which De Hoop Scheffer was a member, acted unlawfully in supporting the US-UK attack on Iraq in 2003. Van Bommel's statement came in reaction to this morning's pronouncements from the former minister, who went on to head NATO, during the radio programme Dit is de Dag ('This is the day'). “The Davids Commission concluded that the decision to support the attack on Iraq was based in the first instance on 'Atlantic solidarity'" says Van Bommel. "If De Hoop Scheffer denies this he is denying at the same time the Commission's core findings. Parliament cannot ignore the views of this directly involved former minister and should interview him publicly."

Along with a motley company of Euro-MPs from various political tendencies, I found in Strasbourg this week that there was enough time between voting sessions to attend the re-establishment of the Intergroup on Ageing. And not only had I to find the time, but the place, as we all ended up going to the wrong room, having been given the wrong number. 1.3 instead of 3.1, a mistake involving numerous storeys, flights of stairs, lifts and corridors. You might well think that old age brings with it a number of deficiencies, but as it turns out, anyone can make mistakes, even a room coordinator barely out of school!