Nieuws van de afdeling

3 June 2012

De Jong wants debate on undermining of MEPs’ Code of Conduct

SP Euro-MP Dennis de Jong rejects what he calls ‘sabotage’ of the recently tightened-up Code of Conduct for Members of the European Parliament by the body’s president and vice-presidents. The Code of Conduct was established following a lobbying scandal last year. Dennis de Jong was one of eight proposers of the new rules which, amongst other things, fix a maximum value for gifts and demand more openness regarding secondary services provided by Members, as well as the acceptance of free trips. ‘Now the Bureau, the top management body of the Parliament, is sticking a knife into the new code, making the rules more flexible, entirely on its own initiative. I want an urgent debate in order to reverse this decision.’

2 June 2012

Speech SP-leader Emile Roemer on the XVIII Congres in Breda (2th of June 2012)

Who could have imagined something like that?

1 June 2012

Spain

Remi Poppe

31 May 2012

Van Bommel: China must free arrested Tibetans

SP Member of Parliament Harry van Bommel says that he is ‘extremely disturbed’ by recent news from the Tibetan capital city of Lhasa that hundreds of Tibetans have been arrested. ‘I’m asking Foreign Minister Uri Rosenthal to tell me what he knows about these worrying reports,’ says Van Bommel. ‘I also want the Minister to put pressure on the Chinese authorities to give the detainees fair treatment and to immediately release the non-violent activists.’

31 May 2012

Angry and worried, Ireland votes on the European Stability Pact

Thursday saw the referendum in Ireland on the European Growth and Stability Pact. As the only country in the Eurozone whose citizens are allowed to participate in the decision via referendum, Ireland promises an exciting fight. SP National Secretary Hans van Heijningen and Senator Arjan Vliegenthart were in Dublin to lend their support to the ‘no’ campaign. 'The Irish are not the only people who have major concerns about where the European project is going,’ says Vliegenthart. ‘Throughout Europe the public is becoming increasingly critical of a policy that appears to give more importance to financial markets than it does to people. It’s good to see that parties are able to join each other in the struggle for a more social Europe.’

30 May 2012

Leijten reins in the Secretary of State: EU must not review laws already adopted

By refusing to sign the law, proposed by the SP and adopted by Parliament, putting an end to compulsory tendering, Secretary of State for Health Marlies Veldhuizen van Zanten is bargaining away the nation’s constitution, says SP Member of Parliament Renske Leijten. Veldhuizen van Zanten has stated her intention to submit the law to the European Commission for approval. ‘We go over the laws we adopt ourselves,’ says Leijten, ‘and if Europe doesn’t agree with them, we’ll hear it from them. The Secretary of State is making laws adopted by the Parliament of the Netherlands subordinate to the judgement of the European Commission, and that she should not be doing.’'

International