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Nieuws van de afdeling

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.’

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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.’

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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.

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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.’

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1 November 2013

Visiting the Dutch Intelligence Service

The most entertaining museum in the Netherlands is in the building which is the most difficult in the country to gain entry to: the headquarters of the main intelligence agency, the General Intelligence and Security Service (AIVD) in Zoetermeer. In the basement the AIVD has preserved its finest trophies from the Cold War. Russian guns concealed in walking sticks, microfiches in coat-hangers, secret messages in the patterns on ladies’ shawls. I don’t know what our own service used; probably you can see these things in the basement at the offices of the former KGB.

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31 October 2013

Government accedes to SP demands: more emphasis on catching people-smugglers

More attention will be paid to spotting young victims of people-smuggling following SP pressure on the government. SP Member of Parliament Nine Kooiman has expressed her delight that Security and Justice Minister Ivo Opstelten and Secretary of State Fred Teeven have committed themselves to this.

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