Nieuws van de afdeling

1 December 2010

Don’t turn our backs on Surinam

This week Surinam celebrates thirty-five years of independence from the Netherlands. The development relationship which once existed between the two countries has come to an end, but the election of Bouterse as president stands in the way of transition towards a normal relationship of friendship between nations. Nevertheless, the Netherlands must not turn its back on the Surinamese people.

29 November 2010

SP seeks parliamentary enquiry into negotiations with FIFA over World Cup bid

SP Member of Parliament and spokeswoman on sport Renske Leijten wants to see a parliamentary enquiry into the way in which the Netherlands’ World Cup bid came about. Her demand comes in the wake of revelations that the Ministry of Finance has known for at least a year that hosting the tournament would not prove profitable, while agreements to waive taxes are unlawful. ‘With a great deal of propaganda we are told that a World Cup will always lead to profits for the taxpayer and that the tax waivers demanded by FIFA would present no problem from a legal point of view. Now that it turns out that the ministry had other information on this, parliament must conduct its own enquiry into the negotiations which have taken place with FIFA’.

26 November 2010

Kox: 'From might makes right to the rule of law’

'The global crisis has exposed for what it is the naïve belief that neoliberal globalisation would eventually lead to peace and prosperity for everyone. Complete freedom for big capital turns out to be an almost impossible to dismantle booby-trap for international cooperation, national sovereignty and social agreements,’ So said SP Senator Tiny Kox this weekend in Nicosia, Cyprus.

25 November 2010

SP against budget increase sought by European Parliament

The SP in the European Parliament today rejected the EP’s negotiating position in regard to the European Union budget. The Parliament is looking to urge the European Council to increase the budget and at the same time introduce new ‘own resources’, including direct EU taxes. SP Euro-MP Dennis de Jong described the proposal as a ‘wrong signal’. In the Dutch national parliament SP European affairs specialist Harry van Bommel had earlier stated the party’s opposition to the budget plans. It is expected that negotiations will be completed next month, after which a final vote will be taken on the definitive budget.

24 November 2010

SP: European transparency register good first step, but far from enough

SP-Euro-MP Dennis de Jong describes the plan for a 'transparency register' as a step forward in making public the influence that 15,000 lobbyists exert on European decision-making. ‘But its effectiveness depends entirely on monitoring and that’s where the proposal falls down.’ De Jong was reacting to the proposal presented this week to the European Parliament and the Commission that lobbyists be given a permanent access pass only after they have registered. He also emphasised that the register would in the end do no more than bring the influence of lobbyists on Brussels decision-making more into the open, doing nothing to change the actual influence of the corporate lobby especially. “So there’s still a world to win,” he concluded.

24 November 2010

Rescue plan for Ireland better for banks than for the country itself

Ireland has, as expected, asked the EU and the IMF for financial support. A loan package of between €80- and €100 billion will very probably form the core of a rescue plan. With this the Irish government can try to return the banks, which are the cause of the problems, to good health. Just as in Iceland the banks grew far beyond the capacity of the country’s economy.

International