International

SP-Euro-MP Dennis de Jong is urging the European Commission to oversee compliance with EU rules on family reunification and to intervene where necessary. In a Green Paper to be published next week, the Commission will pose the question as to whether such intervention may no longer be justified now that the existing rules are to be amended. According to De Jong, “the Commission should not wait around for possible revision of the existing directive. Its job is to intervene when European rules aren’t respected. With my colleagues in the European Parliament, I’ll be holding the responsible European Commissioner to this task.”

On 30th October the people of the young democracy of Kyrgyzstan were able to elect their new President. As one of the three hundred observers from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), SP Senator Nanneke Quik-Schuijt had the job of determining whether these elections were conducted in an open and fair manner. No simple task, as can be seen from her report.