Nieuws van de afdeling

27 August 2015

The left in Europe must draw the lessons from Syriza’s defeat

Foto: Len Munnik

By Dimitris Pavlopoplous — On 12th July what for the time being was the final act of the Greek tragedy came to an end. The hope that the left government could lighten the appalling lot of the people had not been realised. The agreement signed on that day means not only that Syriza’s moderately left programme has been abandoned, but also that Greece will continue on the path of harsh austerity and neoliberal reforms.

19 August 2015

Roemer: ‘The Netherlands could pay out a loan which the Greeks can’t sustain’

The SP will vote against any additional loans to Greece and the austerity package which accompanies them. According to party leader Emile Roemer, Greece’s medicine hasn’t worked. ‘I’d go further,’ he says, ‘the medicine for Greece has turned out to be a poison pill. Poverty has grown enormously, half of the young people have no job and wages are down by 37%. The Netherlands could pay for a loan which the Greeks can’t sustain. That the SP will therefore not do.’

18 August 2015

Merkies: ‘Austerity agreement is poison pill for Greece’

On Wednesday Parliament will debate the new loan agreement between the European Union and Greece. The SP will not be voting in favour of this agreement. ‘Once again the Greeks are being prescribed the bad medicine of inhuman austerity,’ says SP Member of Parliament and parliamentary spokesman on financial affairs Arnold Merkies. ‘This agreement is bad for Greece and bad for the Netherlands.’ We posed Merkies three questions on the accord.

13 August 2015

Europhiles are fracturing the European dream

On the evening of Wednesday June 1st, 2005, the SP gathered in Artis – Amsterdam’s zoo – to celebrate the victory in the referendum on the European Constitution. Two-thirds of Dutch voters had said ‘no’. Not to Europe, but to European politics. The world’s media were also amassed in Artis. Just as I began a live report for Fox News, a punk band began to play.

11 August 2015

Sustainable banking

Banks fulfil a special role in our society. They are the powerful pivot of worldwide investments. On this rests a major responsibility when it comes to making choices about where they make those investments. Globalisation and financialisation have given banks’ investment policies increasing influence over production chains, workers' rights and the environment, anywhere in the world. At the same time that process has increasingly obscured our view of just where our money is going.

3 August 2015

One Tax Haven Netherlands, many victims

Last week a popular TV news programme, EenVandaag, once more demonstrated that our country is a tax haven – not for ordinary people, but for multinational corporations which use the Netherlands to avoid paying taxes. Tijmen Lucie investigates.

International