International

On Wednesday evening the Dutch Parliament debated the rise of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS). Below is the text of the speech by SP foreign policy spokesman Harry van Bommel which formed part of the debate.

The SP is extremely concerned about the growing gap between rich and poor in the Netherlands and in Europe as a whole. In part this division is consequence, direct or indirect, of European Union legislation. SP Euro-MP Dennis de Jong today responded to this in the European Parliament by calling for a ‘solidarity test’ to be introduced and applied to all new EU legislative proposals. 'The effects on the regulatory burden and the general economic and financial impact of a proposed new law are subject to a great deal of attention,’ De Jong says, ‘but what the implications might be of, for example, the marketization of public services for social cohesion is not included in this. A solidarity test could change that.’