Nieuws van de afdeling

9 November 2010

European Parliament calls for ban on unauthorised reading of emails by advertisers

SP Euro-MP Dennis de Jong describes himself as 'pleased' by the support he received for his proposals in the European Parliament to improve protection for consumers against unsolicited advertising. New Internet techniques mean that advertisers are going too far in their use of advertising email shots, in the European Parliament's view. "In the past you could be sure that the postal service weren't reading your mail. But this is now happening on a large school on the Internet, where emails and chat sessions are read by corporations in order to target advertising. The European Parliament wants to put an end to this. From now on this shouldn't happen without explicit permission."

8 November 2010

International trade union prize goes to Dutch cleaners

The global trade union umbrella body UNI Global Union has rewarded Dutch cleaners with a unique international prize. The prize, which is given out only once every five years, was awarded for the cleaners' successful strike last spring. After nine weeks of actions, of stations full of dirt and litter and mountains of rubbish in the streets, the cleaners won a greatly improved national agreement national pay and conditions agreement.

6 November 2010

Burmese electorate on the horns of a dilemma

The inhabitants of Burma will tomorrow have the chance to vote in an election for the first time in twenty years. The question is not who they will vote for but rather whether they will vote at all. Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has called for a boycott, while other politicians in Burma see the elections as a chance for democratisation. Europe must, whatever happens, do what it can to support the democratisation movement.

2 November 2010

Referendum on EU treaty amendment

The SP is demanding a referendum on the EU treaty amendment which will be required to make possible a permanent emergency fund covering the eurozone countries. SP Member of Parliament Harry van Bommel put forward the demand today in a call to fellow MPs. "The European Union has in a very short space of time acquired a great deal more influence over our national economic policy," says Van Bommel. "When you add it to the already agreed system of sanctions for the eurozone countries, the treaty amendment will mean a massive transfer of powers. That should not be possible without the Dutch people being consulted."

1 November 2010

Europe – hands off our housing associations

We must never allow Europe and the new government to break up the social housing market to the advantage of the free market and at the expense of the chance for decent housing.

1 November 2010

EU fines threaten to reduce public support for Europe

Countries in the eurozone which fail to keep to the budgetary rules will in the future be more-or-less automatically fined, according to reports in the Dutch press. Finance Minister Jan Kees de Jager is perfectly happy with this agreement, because he hopes that it will mean that a new crisis such as has occurred in Greece can be prevented. The agreement carries major disadvantages, however, which could seriously undermine support for the EU.

International