International

In the near future Croatia will be faced with the task of proving that it is fulfilling the demands placed on candidates for European Union membership. Before any agreement to admit Croatia can be endorsed by the Dutch government, it will first have to be sent to the national Parliament, thanks to a proposal from SP Member of Parliament Harry van Bommel which on Wednesday won the support of a majority of his colleagues across the political spectrum. As Van Bommel explains, ‘we should learn from Bulgaria and Romania, where the admission agreements were too lax and the two countries were admitted too rapidly. That’s why I want to see the agreements with Croatia for myself, and before we take a decision over the country’s admission to the EU.’

On Tuesday trade unions demonstrated in Luxembourg against EU plans for economic governance. Media sources gave the figure for participants as 10,000. The right-wing parties in the European Parliament are attempting this week to force through the controversial vote on the package of measures that the Parliament must approve before they can be introduced. Parties of the left share the trade unions’ serious objections to the proposals.