Nieuws van de afdeling

19 February 2011

European arrest warrant must be reformed

For those who should be extradited as quickly as possible, there must be guarantees that, in the country which has requested their handing over, conditions await them which meet our standards.

17 February 2011

Senate urges government action on ridding Europe of nuclear weapons

A majority in the Senate is of the opinion that the government should be doing more to ensure that tactical nuclear weapons are removed from Europe. A joint motion from the SP and Labour calling on the government to explain what concrete measures it intends to take to further disarmament can count on a clear majority.

17 February 2011

De Jong: European expert groups exclude experts

An inventory conducted by the SP’s team in the European Parliament has revealed that it’s extremely difficult for real experts to be appointed to the so-called expert groups which advise the European Commission on legislative and other measures. Instead, the near-thousand groups are peopled in the main by lobbyists from major corporations. As SP Euro-MP Dennis de Jong says, ‘Social organisations invariably lack funds while the big corporations can afford to hire lobbyists to get their voices heard. This has got to change.’

16 February 2011

SP leader Emile Roemer: ‘Influx of workers from Eastern Europe must be regulated’

The Netherlands must have the right to determine for itself which workers from which countries are allowed to take up employment in the country without a work permit. SP leader Emile Roemer presents a 5-point plan to limit the currently uncontrolled influx of workers from Eastern Europe, to oblige people working in the Netherlands to learn Dutch, and to put an end to fraudulent and abusive employment bureaux and inadequate housing for workers coming from abroad.

15 February 2011

De Jong: reject plan for EU meddling in pensions

SP-Euro-MP Dennis de Jong is critical of the parliamentary report on pensions prepared by Dutch Christian Democrat Ria Oomen. In De Jong’s view the report gives the impression that it is calling for binding European agreements on the pensions systems of the member states. 'The report argues for a raising of the pensionable age, which is a purely national matter,’ he says. ‘In the Netherlands it’s absolutely unnecessary – we have no need for any regulation from Brussels in this policy area.’

15 February 2011

Government’s assurance on Kunduz ‘almost laughable’

SP leader Emile Roemer today called the government to account over reports from the Afghan province of Kunduz which state that police officers already stationed there have been involved in fighting the Taliban and that this will continue. The reports appeared in the Dutch national daily De Volkskrant. ‘Kunduz is a war zone,’ said Roemer. ‘Nobody can guarantee that, if they run into a busload of Taliban, the police officers that we are going to train will do no more than issue a parking ticket. And without reliable assurances there is no majority in Parliament in favour of the mission.’

International