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Nieuws uit 2013

2 July 2013

Brussels must not leave truck drivers out in the cold

SP Euro-MP Dennis de Jong this morning handed over the first available copy of ‘De Chauffeur aan het woord’ (‘The Driver Speaks’) to European Commissioner for Transport Siim Kallas.

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2 July 2013

Eric Smaling, SP Member of Parliament in Turkey: broad resistance in Istanbul

SP Member of Parliament Eric Smaling reports on a visit to Istanbul for a conference of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

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29 June 2013

Government should offer apologies for shameful history of slavery

On 1st July 1863 celebratory cannon shots were heard In Surinam. They signalled the end of slavery in the Dutch colonies. Our country was one of the last in Europe to move to abolition, and tens of thousands of slaves were freed. 150 years on, it’s high time that the government at last offered an official apology for this shameful history.

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27 June 2013

Council of Europe demands freedom of Turkish people to demonstrate

Turkey must respect the freedom of its citizens to demonstrate and to express their opinions, instead of suppressing mass protest with excesses of police violence. A resolution to this effect was adopted today by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) in Strasbourg after a debate proposed by SP Senator Tiny Kox, leader of the European United Left political group in the Assembly.

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26 June 2013

Agreement on EU officials’ salaries: an opportunity missed for real reform

The European Commission, representatives of the European Parliament and the EU member state governments today reached agreement on the longstanding conflict over EU officials’ salaries. Commenting on the proposed settlement, which remains to be confirmed by the Parliament as a whole, SP Euro-MP Dennis de Jong described it as ‘a missed opportunity,’ adding that ‘the discussion focused entirely on the salaries and bonuses paid to officials. Important matters, but what’s needed is a much broader and more fundamental debate on the EU services in Brussels. Why do so few EU officials leave the service before retirement? How can we account for the poor work ethic in Brussels? What prospects can we offer these officials of a career which remains challenging and doesn’t isolate them in Brussels’ ivory towers, work which brings them more into contact with a range of social groups? Instead of a fundamental debate we had a scrap over a percentage more or a percentage less.’

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21 June 2013

Europe’s Council of Guardians

Ronald van Raak - Europe and democracy (deep sigh). The enlargement of the Union, the introduction of the euro, the forcing through of the European Constitution, all of these have happened against the will of the people who no longer have any confidence in the European Union and are asking for divorce papers. This is leading to fear within the EU institution and a sop for the people in the form of the European Citizens’ Initiative, a measure once again dripping with arrogance and suspicion.

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