International

Over the last few days a residential neighbourhood of Utrecht has had to be evacuated following the discovery of a particularly dangerous form of asbestos in houses there. Despite the continued presence of potentially dangerous asbestos in buildings in the Netherlands having been raised on a number of occasions by SP Members of Parliament, the government has consistently refused to take appropriate action, as the account below demonstrates.

It’s been going on for years, but yesterday’s programme on Flemish television, ‘Terzake’, brought it all into sharp focus. Salaries in the European Union institutions are way too high. Every year I put amendments to the budget, trying to put an end to these inflated salaries and exaggerated expenses in the European Parliament and other EU bodies. Time after time these proposals are rejected. But in these times of crisis, when everyone is being forced to cut spending, people simply will no longer accept it if the Eurocrats continue to feather their own nests. Time for a broad coalition capable, when we vote on the budget for 2013 this autumn, of getting down to brass tacks.