Nieuws van de afdeling

5 November 2013

De Jong: Barroso fails to combat errors in spending of EU moneys

For the nineteenth year in succession the European court of Auditors has failed to give its complete approval to the accounts of expenditure of EU moneys. Commenting on the Auditors’ decision, SP Euro-MP Dennis de Jong says: ‘Not only has once again no approval been given, for the fourth year in a row the percentage of errors has increased. The Commission under Jose Barroso’s leadership has recorded absolutely no results in this area. The situation has simply got worse.’ The Commission is now seeking a solution in the form of establishing a European Office of Public Prosecutions charged with investigating and prosecuting fraud in the member states. National parliaments have used the yellow card procedure, which enables them to reject proposals, to do just that, as it is a disproportionate and probably also ineffective means of combatting fraud in relation to EU money. ‘Instead of wasting its time on this no-hope project,’ says De Jong, ‘the Commission should demand a declaration of accounts from each member state, while reforming its own anti-fraud institution, OLAF, so that the quality of investigations is greatly improved.’

5 November 2013

Defence Ministry ambitions are too great

The budget for defence has been increasingly stripped to the bare bone, and yet continues to be called upon by the government to manage all kinds of operations, an impossible and even dangerous assignment. It’s time it was given a realistic range of tasks. • Jasper van Dijk is a Member of Parliament for the SP.

5 November 2013

SP proposal supported as European Parliament calls for better protection for air passengers

The European Parliament wants to see more protection for air travellers than the European Commission is proposing, according to the result of today’s vote in the Internal Market Committee. SP Euro-MP Dennis de Jong, commenting on the vote, says that ‘my proposals that passengers who are unable to board their first flight should not be excluded for longer than the next flight or return flight were adopted. So soon you will no longer have to waste your entire holiday if you miss the outward flight.’

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.’

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.

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.’

International