International

On Sunday 4th March Russia elects a new president. International observers are in the country to look into the degree to which the elections are free and fair. SP Senator Tiny Kox is head of the Council of Europe observers’ team and will report each day.

In the SP’s view adjusting the luxury pay and conditions enjoyed by EU officials to reality has become an urgent necessity. ‘In the past working in Brussels was something exotic, whereas nowadays there’s much less difference between that and working for a national civil service,’ SP Euro-MP Dennis de Jong points out. ‘So there’s every reason to put an end to all of the unnecessary expenses paid to EU officials, certainly in the light of the current economic crisis and the sacrifices being demanded of ordinary men and women throughout Europe. Hopefully this would lead also to fewer people spending their whole lives working in Brussels, and more mobility between the EU institutions and national administrations.’