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Nieuws uit 2012

28 November 2012

Anti-SP laws withdrawn: SP office-holders will continue to transfer large slice of salary to party

Ronald van RaakThe proposed laws outlawing the SP’s ‘contribution rule’, under which anyone holding a public office in the name of the party pays his or her salary to the SP and receives in return a salary equivalent to that of a Dutch skilled worker, have been withdrawn. SP Member of Parliament Ronald van Raak, welcoming the move, said that it puts an end to the dubious practice under which laws were being used for party political ends. ‘Decision-makers who line their own pockets are not dealt with, while politicians who want to share their own money are made suspect,’ he said.

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27 November 2012

The Greek bankruptcy

8th May, 2010 was the day when the SP voted against the aid package for Greece of €5 billion. The eurozone countries had to get their wallets out because Greece could not meet its obligations to private investors. ‘This aid seems aimed more at helping the banks than on helping the Greeks,’ said Ewout Irrgang, my predecessor as SP economics spokesperson. And so it turned out. The European billions took a quick turn around the Acropolis and disappeared straight into the pockets of the big European banks.

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27 November 2012

SP asks government: Don’t leave the Palestinians in the lurch

Tiny Kox'Let’s hope that the Dutch government doesn’t leave the Palestinians in the lurch this time and votes in favour of raising the status of the Palestinian Authority in the United Nations. Any other vote would be a disgrace for the Netherlands,’ says SP Senator Tiny Kox in the run-up to the approaching vote at the UN on the Palestinian request to be given, as a non-member state, official observer status.

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22 November 2012

Israel v. Palestine: how much longer?

Jan Marijnissen

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21 November 2012

European Commission: Stoiber Group is acid test for more transparency on Expert Groups

In a meeting yesterday with SP Euro-MP Dennis de Jong and MEPs who share his concerns about the transparency of European Commission Expert Groups, Commission Vice-President Maros Sefcovic gave the go-ahead for further reform of the nine hundred or so groups. The meeting took place on the SP’s initiative and in the wake of pressure from the European Parliament, which earlier this year blocked the groups’ funding. ‘We have already agreed around fifty Expert Groups whose composition continued to appear unbalanced would all be subject to investigation,’ says De Jong. ‘In addition, we are working on a Code of Conduct to put an end to the secrecy attached to participants in the groups. I am further encouraged by the Vice-President’s promise that the reform of the much-talked about Stoiber Group would represent an acid test for the European Commission’s new ways of working.´

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20 November 2012

Cease-fire fatally undermined by Israeli liquidation policy

With the attack on Hamas commandant Ahmed Jabari, Israel last week resumed a policy of liquidation in the Gaza Strip. It has now become clear that this extrajudicial execution killed off any chance of a lasting cease-fire.

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