Nieuws van de afdeling

1 October 2012

Party Council evaluates campaign: We were too cautious

In a packed meeting room in De Moed, the new party headquarters in Amersfoort, the SP party council evaluated the recent election campaign. There was criticism and self-criticism, the most important amongst which was that the SP had been too cautious. There were compliments for Emile Roemer and for the host of active members.

1 October 2012

Election night: We carry on!

Election night, September 12th, began in an optimistic spirit. Disappointment over the exit polls lasted, said Emile Roemer in his speech, precisely five minutes. The militancy and belligerence of his words conveyed itself to everyone present.

29 September 2012

Van Bommel observer at Georgian elections

SP Member of Parliament Harry van Bommel will be an official observer at Monday’s elections in Georgia. Van Bommel will form part of the delegation of 350 observers despatched by the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) whose members will be joined by a hundred observers from foreign embassies in Georgia. The ruling United National Movement (UNM), led by current president Mikheil Saakashvili, will be challenged principally by a coalition of opposition parties calling itself Georgian Dream. Saakashvili has been under fire as a result of a scandal involving torture in a Georgian prison, acts which formed the subject of a recently revealed video taken inside the facility.

28 September 2012

In Brussels, SYRIZA leader Tsipras calls for left cooperation to deal with crisis

Today, SP Euro-MP Dennis de Jong met with SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras and representatives of other left parties in Europe for talks on the Eurocrisis. Tsipras called on modern left parties from across Europe to organise a new European social movement to increase solidarity between left forces in Europe and develop approaches to the right’s crisis. De Jong supported the call from Tsipras: ‘Employers are extremely well-organised in Europe with all of their lobbies, but as a result of their fragmentation, social movements are able to reach Brussels far too seldom,’ he said. ‘Because of this we are allowing ourselves to work against each other and neoliberalism makes the most of this and carries on regardless, despite all the national protests.’

26 September 2012

De Jong: dubious practices should mean no payments to European Environment Agency

In view of misspent funds and a continuing investigation by EU anti-fraud body OLAF, the European Parliament Budgetary Control Committee is withholding payments to the European Environment Agency (EEA). Commenting on the decision, SP Euro-MP Dennis de Jong said: ‘I’m really pleased about this, as there are a large number of unanswered questions. For example as many as twenty-nine of the EEA’s officials went on a ten-day “study visit” to the Caribbean, which is certainly not provided for in the agency’s mandate. In addition, they spent €300,000 on a green façade of plants at the EEA headquarters in Copenhagen, despite the fact that this money was earmarked for external research.’

23 September 2012

De Jong supports European lorry drivers’ actions

SP Euro-MP Dennis de Jong will tomorrow express his support for the actions of hundreds of angry lorry drivers from the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxemburg and France who are together protesting against the evasion of social rights by, amongst others, what are known as ‘box number companies’. This term refers to corporations established in reality in one member state of the European Union, who register in another where tax rates are lower or labour laws laxer. ‘This action comes just at the right time,’ says De Jong, ‘in the light of the threat from European Commission vice-president Sim Kallas to bring forward proposals in the near future for the liberalisation of domestic road transport. That would signal the end for the Dutch transport sector. In addition, we must put a stop to the evasion of collective labour agreements by means of shadowy and illegal constructions. This was confirmed by the Commission earlier in the year in response to my questions. As things stand, supervision and enforcement of these rules is failing.’

International