Nieuws van de afdeling

3 March 2014

Ukraine: SP Senator Kox seeks emergency meeting of Council of Europe

At the request of SP Senator Tiny Kox, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) will meet on Friday to discuss the political crisis in Ukraine. Senator Kox, who chairs the left political group in PACE, in which every European parliament is represented, wants to look into whether Europe’s biggest treaty-based organisation might possibly be able to offer its aid in seeking a solution to the present political crisis. ‘Now that international governmental diplomacy seems for the moment to be stymied,’ says Kox, ‘we need to look into whether via the route of parliamentary diplomacy openings can be found.’

1 March 2014

European banking union: a huge European trap

In the SP’s view the Europhoric vote on the concluding agreement for the banking union is misplaced, because the idea that forms the basis of such a banking union is fundamentally flawed. The SP argues instead for a return to human scale in the banking sector, rather than hanging on to a failing system.

28 February 2014

EU must take social rights seriously

The EU must at last ratify the Council of Europe’s European Social Charter, according to a call which is included in the human rights report adopted yesterday by the European Parliament.

27 February 2014

European Parliament right to demand amendments to European Arrest Warrant

The SP has for years criticised the way in which the European Arrest Warrant (EAW) is applied by the member states. The directive means that Dutch people who are sought by other member states’ authorities in connection with a criminal offence can be extradited without any prior judicial review. ‘The European Parliament now recognises that the rights of suspects are not properly guaranteed in this and that it means that it is too easy for people to be extradited to another member state for relatively trivial offences,’ says SP Euro-MP Dennis de Jong. ‘Now the ball’s in the court of the European Commission and the Council of Ministers, and I want to hear from them before the European elections what they are going to do about this.’

26 February 2014

Speech in commemoration of the February Strike of 1941

Heroic. Purposeful. Merciful. Queen Wilhelmina added that motto to the Amsterdam coat of arms following the ‘Februaristaking’, the February Atrike of 1941. Heroic. Purposeful. Merciful. Those were the strikers who in February 1941 opposed the persecution of Jews and resisted the occupying forces. Today we commemorate them.

26 February 2014

De Jong: European Sales Law an attack on consumers' rights

The European Parliament votes today on proposals for an EU sales law. This legislation would apply for cross-border purchases within the EU, but SP Euro-MP Dennis de Jong is completely opposed to the measure. ‘Together with other MEPs I’ve presented a proposal that this be thrown out in its entirety,’ he says. ‘A few years ago, on a proposal from the SP, the European Parliament gave the member states the possibility of extending more rights to the consumer then are provided in the EU’s consumer directive. This has now to a large extent been reversed. Via this new proposal firms can choose which rules will apply when they’re involved in cross-border purchases. This means that important consumer rights can be kicked into touch, because in such a case the Dutch consumer will no longer be able to call on our own national consumer law. We decidedly don’t want this, and I really hope that the European Parliament will support my motion to reject.’

International