International

SP Euro-MP Dennis de Jong today called for a hearing at the European Parliament on the proposed EU free trade agreement with the US. For this hearing it’s imperative that national MPs are invited who are interested in organising similar events in the member states. De Jong issued the call during a protest march attended by activists from across Europe gathered in Brussels for a two day event under the name Alternative Trade Mandate. ‘Nobody in Europe appreciates just how far-reaching would be the consequences of the intended agreement with the US. People are being deliberately kept in the dark. That’s completely undemocratic. During special hearings we need to put the European Commission and the Council of Ministers under intense pressure to make at least the main points of the negotiating mandate public.’

The Council of Europe wants to see an independent enquiry into the murder of fifty-two Iranian resistance fighters in Iraq. SP Senator Tiny Kox, on whose initiative the declaration was made, has welcomed the decision. ‘The murdered Iranian resistance fighters in Camp Ashraff in Iraq had, in the view of the United Nations, a right to protection,’ says Senator Kox. ‘It’s a scandal that this act of murder could take place despite this. And it’s good that the Council of Europe, which prioritises human rights, is using its authority to demand an international enquiry.’ The declaration was drawn up in Vienna, where the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, which has forty-seven countries as member states, was meeting this week.