International

This morning president of the European Commission Jose Barroso addressed the European Parliament in his annual State of the Union speech. The speech demonstrated that Barroso is completely divorced from reality. According to the Commission President, we are seeing great progress in crisis countries such as Greece and Portugal, and can be optimistic over the future of the EU. SP Euro-MP Dennis de Jong, reacting to the speech, asked ‘How is it possible for this man to say this while millions are living in wretched conditions and social services and provisions are being cut throughout Europe? His speech included nothing essentially realistic on how to combat unemployment and poverty. He does, however, state that the EU is not the problem. Yet it is nevertheless his own European Commission that is holding on to austerity fetishism, to the 3% deficit norm which forces the member states to make deep spending cuts which only make the crisis worse.’

In June and July Dutch TV broadcast a shocking documentary on the lot of children of asylum-seekers who have been refused and deported. Many appeared not to be doing well and were experiencing developmental problems. Prompted by these conclusions, SP Member of Parliament Sharon Gesthuizen demanded a reaction from Secretary of State for Security and Justice Fred Teeven. ‘If the deportation of children is leading to distressing situations we must make an attempt in such cases to bring the children back,’ says Gesthuizen. ‘They were deported under our responsibility and in the interest of the child we shouldn’t be turning a blind eye, even after deportation.’