International

SP Euro-MP Dennis de Jong today attended the Amnesty International protest action which was supported also by Palestinian solidarity groups in Brussels. The demonstrators‘ action was intended to draw attention to the treatment of Palestinian prisoners by Israel. ‘The European Union must take action and stop going along with the continual enlargement of trade privileges via the Association Agreement with Israel,’ says De Jong. ‘Israel uses so-called administrative detention to lock up thousands of Palestinians, sometime even including children, without trial. This is in contravention of the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights and also with conditions attached to the Association Agreement. I want to hear condemnation of this practice from the EU’s High Representative on Foreign Policy Catherine Ashton.’

Recent weeks have seen a number of EU member states – amongst others, Spain, Portugal, Hungary, Ireland and Cyprus - announce that they are willing to give rich foreigners a residency permit if, for example, they buy a house in the country. It is no coincidence that it is for the most part countries who find themselves in major financial problems as a result of the economic crisis. However, anyone who has received a residency permit from one of these Schengen countries will also be free to settle in the Netherlands. Today, Secretary of State for Security and Justice Fred Teeven stated that he was attracted by the idea of introducing such a regulation.