Nieuws van de afdeling

4 August 2011

Africa deserves help, not cynicism

EMILE ROEMER • How long will the world continue to accept the existence of places like Dadaab, the huge refugee camp by the Somalian border? This was what I and party colleagues Ewout Irrgang and Eric Smaling were asking ourselves in May, during our visit to Kenya. The situation in the camp has become daily more hopeless. Insufficient food, inadequate education for the children and, worst of all, inadequate housing. And the flood of refugees has grown by the day. The situation in Somalia is, after years of lawlessness, ever more hopeless.

1 August 2011

Van Bommel: 'Step up pressure on Syria after bloodbath’

SP Member of Parliament Harry van Bommel today urged Foreign Minister Uri Rosenthal to impose stricter sanctions on Syria following a bloodbath this weekend in the town of Hama in which eighty civilians lost their lives. Van Bommel wants to see all available diplomatic means employed to induce the Syrian regime to introduce peaceful reforms and instigate a meaningful political discussion with the domestic opposition.

27 July 2011

€50 billion more than we were told: SP demands explanation from Prime Minister

SP Member of Parliament Ewout Irrgang is urging a recall of the legislature in order that Prime Minister Mark Rutte can be quizzed over the apparent addition of €50 billion to the rescue package for Greece. ‘Last Friday, Rutte was talking in terms of 100 billion or so, including the contribution from the banks,’ says Irrgang. ‘Now it turns out that the European taxpayer and the IMF will be paying the whole of that sum, while it is becoming increasingly obvious that many banks have no interest in paying anything towards solving the problems which they themselves caused. I want Rutte to explain how this blunder could occur.”

23 July 2011

'We are all Norwegians’

SP leader Emile Roemer has reacted with horror to the bomb attack and shootings in Norway, joining in the sentiments expressed by Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt who expressed his solidarity with the words, ‘We are all Norwegians’. Roemer added that ‘a cowardly act such as this touches every free society. What happened yesterday in Norway can never be entirely ruled out in our own country.'

21 July 2011

Debt crisis shouldn’t be an excuse to hand more powers to Europe

SP Member of Parliament Ewout Irrgang has strongly criticised the European approach to the debt crisis in Greece. ‘More money to Greece, with a minimal contribution from the banks,’ he says. ‘This money will help only the banks, not the Greeks and not the Dutch taxpayer.’

20 July 2011

Hadzic’s arrest not enough to qualify Serbia for EU candidacy

SP Member of Parliament Harry van Bommel has reacted with delight to the arrest of war criminal Goran Hadžić. ‘This man has been pursued for years and it’s high time he was held responsible for his deeds,’ he says. Van Bommel stresses, however, that this does not mean that Serbia can become a member of the European Union. Hadžić’s arrest certainly meets an important demand which had to be fulfilled before an approach to the EU could be considered, but before membership can be discussed the country must take serious steps to combat corruption.

International