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Nieuws uit 2013

5 November 2013

Bashir: Take a tough line against unfair competition

SP Member of Parliament Farshad Bashir wants to see a significant increase in the number of controls carried out by the Transport Inspectorate, the body responsible for checks on freight vehicles. ‘Dutch drivers and firms are experiencing a great deal of difficulty as a result of foreign companies supplying inland transport services – wholly within the Netherlands - at below the going rate,’ he says. ‘Cabotage regulations now ban this, but these rules are widely flouted.’

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3 November 2013

SP asks for government’s cooperation in visit of Snowden

SP Member of Parliament Ronald van Raak wants to invite whistle-blowser Edward Snowden to a hearing in the Dutch national parliament in The Hague. He is therefore asking the government to give its assurance that Snowden would not be extradited to the United States. At the same time he is asking the government to do all its power to ensure Snowden’s safety during his visit.

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1 November 2013

SP critical of risky military mission in Mali

The SP is critical of the Netherlands’ military mission in Mali. In the Parliamentary debate soon to be held on the decision to send troops to Mali, the government will have to explain why Dutch participation is necessary, says SP Member of Parliament Jasper van Dijk. Van Dijk was reacting to the government’s decision to send around 350 military personnel to the African country for a minimum two years. ‘It’s not clear why the Netherlands must send its troops,’ adds Van Dijk. ‘If it’s as hopeless a struggle as Afghanistan, we would have problems supporting it.’

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1 November 2013

Visiting the Dutch Intelligence Service

The most entertaining museum in the Netherlands is in the building which is the most difficult in the country to gain entry to: the headquarters of the main intelligence agency, the General Intelligence and Security Service (AIVD) in Zoetermeer. In the basement the AIVD has preserved its finest trophies from the Cold War. Russian guns concealed in walking sticks, microfiches in coat-hangers, secret messages in the patterns on ladies’ shawls. I don’t know what our own service used; probably you can see these things in the basement at the offices of the former KGB.

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31 October 2013

Government accedes to SP demands: more emphasis on catching people-smugglers

More attention will be paid to spotting young victims of people-smuggling following SP pressure on the government. SP Member of Parliament Nine Kooiman has expressed her delight that Security and Justice Minister Ivo Opstelten and Secretary of State Fred Teeven have committed themselves to this.

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28 October 2013

Stop the export of carcinogenic asphalt

SP Member of Parliament Henk van Gerven is urging Wilma Mansveld, Secretary of State for Environment and Infrastructure, to put an end to the dumping of carcinogenic asphalt in foreign countries. The approach towards the problem of undesirable exports of the tar-based asphalt which provokes cancer remains ‘much too weak,’ says Van Gerven. About half of the total production of this asphalt, a total of more than 660,000 tons in 2012, is sold abroad. According to Dutch regulations, asphalt containing tar must be thermally treated by a recognised processor. In this process, the substances containing the tar are broken down under heat. ‘Many local authorities find a balanced budget more important than public health and the environment,’ alleges Van Gerven.

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