Nieuws van de afdeling

3 May 2010

Foreign Minister's proposals for cutting back nuclear weapons too weak

"Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen is ducking the issues and allowing a historic chance to make the Netherlands and Europe free of nuclear weapons to go begging." This was SP Member of Parliament Krista van Velzen's reaction to Verhagen's performance in New York. Two weeks ago a large majority in the Dutch Parliament voted in favour of an SP proposal that a message should be sent to the United States government to the effect that the Netherlands no longer desires nuclear protection and that withdrawal of American nuclear weapons from Europe is now advisable. At today's Non-Proliferation Treaty review Conference, however, Verhagen refused to respect Parliament's wishes and spoke instead of no more than a reduction of the number of nuclear weapons in Europe.

3 May 2010

‘Banks must contribute to costs of aid to Greece'

"The European banking sector must, by means of of debt restructuring, contribute to the costs of aid to Greece," says SP Member of Parliament and economic affairs spokesman Ewout Irrgang. "They have received a higher rate of interest on Greek state loans in exchange for higher risk. So it would now be dishonest of the banks not to pay some of the costs, while they are profiting from the aid given to Greece."

3 May 2010

Krista in New York: SP Member of Parliament joins thousands of demonstrators at start of UN meeting on nuclear weapons

Yesterday in New York, SP Member of Parliament Krista van Velzen participated in a mass demonstration against nuclear weapons. Many thousands of demonstrators marched from Times Square to the United Nations headquarters with the message that a world free of nuclear weapons is now more than ever necessary. Today sees the start in New York of the Review Conference for the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which SP defence spokeswoman Van Velzen will attend as part of the Netherlands delegation.

1 May 2010

“Fair Shares and an Attack on Poverty”

Speaking in Den Helder, SP leader Emile Roemer used his May Day address to argue for a fair share for all, for poverty to be attacked, the retirement age to be maintained at 65 and for the return of Dutch soldiers from the war in Afghanistan.

30 April 2010

Afghan about-face from Labour leader 'bizarre and disgraceful'

SP Member of Parliament and foreign affairs spokesman Harry van Bommel described the behaviour of Labour Party leader Job Cohen as "bizarre and disgraceful" as Cohen expressed support for sending hundreds of Dutch soldiers to Afghanistan. The Labour leader's statement came only days after last week's vote by Labour in Parliament against the proposal. "Labour broke with its coalition partners and brought the government down over Afghanistan, but now wants to send hundreds of soldiers and police officers there. How often can you do this kind of about face before the voters have been driven mad by it? I find it bizarre and disgraceful. You can't carry on like this with the voters, and you don't treat soldiers like that!"

28 April 2010

SP: successful EU seminar on Kirkuk

SP Euro-MP Dennis de Jong declared himself pleased by Monday's seminar in the European Parliament, “Kirkuk and Disputed Territories”, which he hosted. The seminar was organised by the Kurdish Institute in Brussels and the Kurdish Educational, Scientific and Cultural Centre. Kurdish Institute president Derwich Ferho and SP national parliamentarian Harry van Bommel, the party's foreign affairs spokesman, also described the seminar as "successful".

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