Nieuws van de afdeling

1 September 2013

SP leader Emile Roemer in Venezuela

On their way back from their working visit to Brazil, SP leader Emile Roemer, National Secretary Hans van Heijningen and Brazil specialist Peter Runhaar called in on Venezuela.

29 August 2013

SP Member of Parliament Jasper van Dijk reports on a working visit to Tanzania and Ethiopia

From 17th-25th August Members of the Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation paid a visit to Tanzania and Ethiopia. The main question they wanted to address was whether the government is right to put more emphasis on trade than on development cooperation, a line established by the previous cabinet and continued under the current minister responsible for these policy areas, Labour’s Lilianne Ploumen. The policy is coupled with deep cuts in spending on development cooperation: from 2010 onwards the annual budget was reduced by €2 billion, from around €5 billion to €3 billion.

29 August 2013

Five questions on possible intervention in Syria

A number of different countries are threatening a military attack on Syria. The SP does not support these plans. Below, we explain why.

28 August 2013

SP leader Emile Roemer in Brazil: Learning from each other, inspiring each other

On 9th August SP leader Emile Roemer arrived in Brazil for a working visit in the company of the party’s National Secretary Hans van Heijningen and Brazil specialist Peter Runhaar. Below are extracts from their account of their experiences in Latin America’s biggest nation.

27 August 2013

Syria: Van Bommel demands recall of parliament over war threats

SP Member of Parliament Harry van Bommel wants to see an immediate parliamentary debate with Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans over the threat of war against Syria. ‘The preparations for war are sufficient to justify the rapid holding of a debate.’ He says. ‘In Britain they are considering recalling Parliament in order to discuss military action. The SP wants to know what requests have been made of the Netherlands and what the standpoint of the government is.’

22 August 2013

Van Bommel calls for immediate UN enquiry into use of poison gas in Syria

An independent United Nations enquiry must be launched as quickly as possible into the incident in Syria in which chemical weapons may have been employed. Otherwise the chance exists that this will be used as a pretext to launch a war against Syria, warns Van Bommel, an SP Member of Parliament and spokesman on foreign affairs. ‘President Obama has already in the recent past cited the use of chemical weapons as a possible reason to invade Syria,’ he recalls. ‘A repeat of the invasion of Iraq must be prevented. In that case there turned out to have been no weapons of mass destruction, despite these having been used as the pretext to invade. An independent enquiry is essential in this propaganda war.’

International