Nieuws van de afdeling

30 June 2011

Brussels financial lobby meets resistance

The lobby of banks and insurance companies has an unreasonable amount of influence in Brussels. Today, however, saw the establishment of Finance Watch, an organisation which intends to even things up. SP Euro-MP Dennis de Jong, who has been involved during the last year in setting the group up, explains: ‘In very few other sectors is the power of the corporate lobby so strong as it is in the financial area, and at last we have an organisation which can counter the one-sided information which we get from the bankers.’

30 June 2011

Van Bommel urges government to veto EU Multi-Annual Budget

The SP is urging the government to reject out of hand the proposal from the European Commission for a major increase to the EU multi-annual budget. Today’s proposal from the European Commission is ‘extremely disappointing,’ in the view of SP Member of Parliament and European affairs spokesman Harry van Bommel. 'The budget is to be increased by 5%, more than the rate of inflation, while member states are being told to tighten their belts. The Commission wants to introduce European taxes, outdated agricultural spending will remain just as high as ever, and nothing is to be done about the way in which member states hand over money only to get it back from EU funds. The Dutch government must exercise its veto.”

29 June 2011

Van Bommel: Doubts over Kunduz Police Association are justified

SP Member of Parliament Harry van Bommel says that he ‘completely understands’ the doubts expressed by the Dutch Police Federation (NPB) over security in the Afghan province of Kunduz. ‘I want the government to tell us how things stand in Kunduz.,’ he says. ‘We have never believed in this mission. And especially now that we are hearing worrisome noises from the first Dutch soldiers posted there, I want the government to say just how unsafe Kunduz is right now.’

29 June 2011

Stricter Code of Conduct for MEPs

The European Parliament has reached agreement on a new Code of Conduct for Members. The new rules mean that MEPs will not be allowed to accept gifts worth more than €150, while any paid employment beyond their parliamentary duties must be made public. SP Euro-MP Dennis de Jong says that he is ‘reasonably happy’ with the result.

24 June 2011

Parliament supports SP motion: No admission for Croatia without legislature’s approval

In the near future Croatia will be faced with the task of proving that it is fulfilling the demands placed on candidates for European Union membership. Before any agreement to admit Croatia can be endorsed by the Dutch government, it will first have to be sent to the national Parliament, thanks to a proposal from SP Member of Parliament Harry van Bommel which on Wednesday won the support of a majority of his colleagues across the political spectrum. As Van Bommel explains, ‘we should learn from Bulgaria and Romania, where the admission agreements were too lax and the two countries were admitted too rapidly. That’s why I want to see the agreements with Croatia for myself, and before we take a decision over the country’s admission to the EU.’

23 June 2011

SP: ‘Ceasefire in Libya urgently needed’

SP Member of Parliament Harry van Bommel is urging that the bombing of Libya be stopped. ‘An immediate cease-fire in order to enable humanitarian aid to be offered must be the overture to a solution to this war,’ he says. The Dutch government wants to offer three months support to the NATO countries which are bombing Libya. ‘In the last three months hundreds of cruise missiles have been fired and some 4,400 targets have been bombed from the air,’ Says Van Bommel. ‘That goes much further than UN Security Council Resolution 1973 permits.’ Meanwhile, in Strasbourg, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe is also calling for a cease-fire.

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