h

Nieuws uit 2012

7 November 2012

De Jong: European Parliament should listen to Europe’s people, not Merkel

SP Euro-MP Dennis de Jong wants the European Parliament to organise a hearing with European trade unions and anti-poverty groups in the near future. ‘The European Parliament is certainly listening to people like Merkel who represent the big corporations and banks,’ says De Jong, ‘but not to the people who have suffered most under the crisis.’

Read more
6 November 2012

Yet again, errors in EU expenditure

For the eighteenth year in succession, the European Court of Auditors has withheld approval of EU’s accounts. The number of errors relating to expenditure detected by the Court of Auditors has grown from 3.7% to 3.9 % of the overall budget of €129.4 billion, amounting to some €5 billion. ‘While in the past the percentage of errors was at least falling a little year-on-year,’ says SP Euro-MP Dennis de Jong, ‘it has risen since the present Commission came into office from 3.3% to 3.9%. Pumping moneys back and forth between national capitals and Brussels and back again, poor monitoring by the member states are leading to needless waste of taxpayers’ money. Even a relatively simple proposal such as the demand for an explanation of the accounts per member state has not been accepted by this Commission. That’s why the situation is continuing to deteriorate each year. We have to stop pumping money about and, for example, by introducing such national audit certification, improve the monitoring in the member states.´

Read more
5 November 2012

Van Bommel: Campaign against Chinese activists is alarming

05-11-2012 • SP Member of Parliament Harry van Bommel is extremely alarmed about the current intensive campaign against activists by the Chinese authorities. ‘This week the 18th party congress takes place in China,’ notes Van Bommel. ‘Because China doesn’t want this disturbed, a lot of activists have been arrested. That’s a very worrying development.’

Read more
1 November 2012

Kooiman: ‘Leave coffeeshop policy to local authorities to determine’

SP Member of Parliament Nine Kooiman describes herself as ‘pleasantly surprised’ by remarks made by Amsterdam Mayor Eberhard van der Laan, of the centre-left Labour Party, who has stated that tourists will not be banned from using the Netherlands’ ‘coffeeshops’, where sale of limited quantities of cannabis is tolerated. He says also that he has discussed the matter with the minister responsible, Ivo Opstelten of the centre-right VVD. ‘That’s good news for all local authorities,’ says Kooiman. ‘Because what Amsterdam can do, so can the rest of the Netherlands. We have nothing to gain by excluding tourists from coffeeshops throughout the country, which would simply boost the illegal street trade, benefiting no-one.’

Read more
1 November 2012

Our mission in Afghanistan has failed

Neither the Dutch mission in the province of Kunduz nor the United States’ troop surge has been able to protect Afghanistan from growing violence.

Read more
31 October 2012

Kurdish hunger-strikers: De Jong urges EU to take action to ensure humane treatment

SP Euro-MP Dennis de Jong has asked the EU authorities to take action to ensure humane treatment of hundreds of Kurdish prisoners in Turkey currently on hunger strike, urging High Representative for Foreign Policy Catherine Ashton to put pressure on the Turkish government to respect internationally-recognised human rights. ‘Prisoners, including those on hunger strike, must have access to medical treatment and support. Human rights organisations report that hunger strikers are being isolated, given no vitamins and are not being visited by doctors or other medical personnel, all of which conflicts with their human rights. The EU must take action, now.’

Read more

Pages

You are here