Nieuws van de afdeling

9 December 2010

Fight against corruption demands action not words

On the International Day Against Corruption, SP Euro-MP Dennis de Jong issued a call for European action on the issue. ´Europe and the world as a whole are, according to Transparency International, becoming ever more corrupt. There has been enough talk. It’s now time for action. I have ten main points on which I’m working to combat corruption. Every moment of delay means profit for organised crime, which is advancing in Europe ever further.’ De Jong issued his call at a European Anti-Corruption Conference.

7 December 2010

European Parliament backs postal workers

SP-Euro-MP Dennis de Jong yesterday launched a petition amongst his fellow MEPs in support of a sound postal sector. The petition calls on the European Commission not to impose fines on those countries which have not yet liberalised their postal sector. ‘Liberalisation in the Netherlands led to mass redundancies, social breakdown and deteriorating service to the consumer. We must protect the rest of Europe from this and where possible reverse it.’

5 December 2010

SP: stop misuse of taxpayers’ money

Taxpayers’ money is being misused on a massive scale in the EU. ‘It is unprecedented that at a time when European governments are having to impose massive cuts, taxpayers’ money intended for weaker regions is going directly and in huge quantities to multinationals, the arms industry, and even the Italian mafia,’ says SP Euro-MP Dennis de Jong in reaction to the results of an investigation by the Financial Times into the European structural funds.

5 December 2010

Dutch Parliament to German Reichstag: War criminal Faber must be punished

Leaders of the Dutch Parliament’s various political groups have written a letter to colleagues in the German Reichstag requesting that they ‘do all they can to ensure the speedy imposition of sentence on the last fugitive Dutch war criminal in Germany, Klaas-Carel Faber.’ The communal letter was written after an initiative from SP leader Emile Roemer, who was responding to a request made to him by investigative journalist Arnold Karskens during popular late-night TV talk-show Pauw & Witteman.

4 December 2010

Cancel the Joint Strike Fighter, while we still can

The Joint Strike Fighter will cost €1.4 billion more than originally calculated, bringing the total investment costs for the Netherlands to €7.6 billion. According to SP Member of Parliament Jasper van Dijk, this dramatic increase is reason enough to cancel this prestige project once and for all. He will put this proposal forward next Tuesday during the parliamentary debate on the defence budget.

3 December 2010

Adoptions across borders: Investigate Commission abuse of power

SP Member of Parliament Nine Kooiman and Euro-MP Dennis de Jong are seeking an explanation regarding reports that the European Commission has been attempting to increase its powers, using adopted children as a device for doing so. A prestigious Romanian newspaper revealed today that the Commission has put researchers under pressure to conclude that there is a need for a European Adoption Agency, a conclusion which their underlying investigation does not support. Kooiman: 'We all know about the European Commission’s greed for greater resources and more power, but that problems surrounding adoption should be exploited to further these ends is something I find appalling. Adoptive children need greater protection and great care.”

International