Nieuws van de afdeling

27 May 2014

SP Senator Kox in Moscow: Russia belongs in Europe

‘Neither Russia nor the rest of the Council of Europe has anything to gain from an increasing confrontation. If European countries and their parliaments don’t talk to each other, mistrust and escalation will be the results. Because of Ukraine the situation in Europe is dangerous enough. My hope is that wise counsel will prevail on both sides so that we can restore cooperation. Russia belongs in the Council of Europe.’

26 May 2014

SP increases vote in European Parliament elections

In the election for the European Parliament, the SP won more votes than either of the other two parties on the left of the political spectrum, rising from 7.1% in 2009, the last time voters were asked to elect their MEPs, to 9.6%. Due to a pre-electoral agreement between the two centre-left parties, the Green Left and the PvdA (Labour Party), Labour will retain three seats under a system which allows votes to be transferred between parties if voters are informed of this possibility in advance. The SP held its two seats.

25 May 2014

SP Senator Kox to Azerbaijan: Improve human rights now!

'Now that Azerbaijan is to take over the six-month rotating presidency of the Council of Europe, it must really give priority to a substantial improvement of human rights at home,’ SP Senator Tiny Kox said this week in Baku, capital of the oil-rich country on the Caspian Sea. Azerbaijan joined Europe’s oldest human rights organisation in 2000, but human rights activists continue to suffer harassment, arrest and imprisonment.

20 May 2014

De Jong urges EU transport ministers to take action

SP Euro-MP Dennis de Jong today joined transport sector employers’ organisation IRU and trade union federation ETF in sending an urgent letter to EU member states’ transport ministers drawing attention to abuses in international road haulage. ‘European Transport Commissioner Slim Kallas promised that he would make recommendations from MEPs known to his colleagues at national level, but this was just talk, so we in the SP will have to do it ourselves,’ says De Jong.

11 May 2014

Dignity, Equality, Solidarity

Politics revolves around the issues of the day, or so it seems. But what of the underlying vision? In the runup to the European elections political thinkers give their view of the purpose, the problems and the hope of humanity. Today we present the fourth part of the series, a contribution from Arjan Vliegenthart and Dennis de Jong of the SP.

10 May 2014

SP No 1 candidate Dennis de Jong visits Breda and Zundert

Today Dennis de Jong, who heads the SP’s list for the European elections, paid a visit to strawberry grower Jan van Meer of the Breda-based company Meerfruit. While in the past strawberries were picked by young Dutch people as a holiday job, the strawberry growers now turn to seasonal workers from eastern Europe. ‘It’s in the main the stipulations regarding working conditions for young people that in fact make it impossible to employ them to pick strawberries,’ De Jong explains. ‘This needs looking at, because it can’t of course have been the aim of this legislation. Happily Meerfruit pays the eastern European workers the rate negotiated under the collective labour agreement (CAO) for the sector, and includes them properly in pension and social security systems. Jan van Meer also wants to improve their housing conditions, but that’s tough going. Patrick van Lunteren, who will shortly take office as the SP’s councillor in Breda with responsibilities in this area, is working on it. If you have no choice but to hire eastern European seasonal workers, then the government should be working on this too.’

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