Nieuws van de afdeling

6 September 2009

Irish neutrality set to play lead role in EU referendum

On 2nd October Ireland will vote on the Lisbon Treaty, the second version of the rejected European Constitution. The most important question for the Irish people is whether the Treaty will put an end to Irish neutrality. This was the conclusion which Harry van Bommel brought back from a conference in Shannon, in the west of Ireland.

4 September 2009

The Irish Struggle

On Friday I travel for the third time to Ireland in order to offer my help to our allies there in their struggle against a federal, neoliberal Europe. The Irish will be able, unlike we Dutch, to express their views on the Lisbon Treaty in a referendum, scheduled for October 2nd. Experts know that this treaty is in fact the same as the rejected European Constitution. Amendments to it are no more than cosmetic in nature.

2 September 2009

‘No public money for veal ads’

Harry van Bommel is asking the government for an explanation regarding an advertisement in which TV personality Rob de Geus promotes the eating of veal. De Geus is well-known in the Netherlands for ‘De Smaakpolitie’ (“The Flavour Police”), a programme which investigates food-related scandals. The SP Member of Parliament wants to know why both the Ministry of Agriculture and the European Union contributed to the costs of the ad. “The EU figures prominently as a sponsor,” says Van Bommel. “Making ads is all very well, but not with taxpayers’ money.”

25 August 2009

'No theft of health care workers from India'

The SP is insisting that Minister of Health Ab Klink should intervene to stop Groningen University Medical Centre (UMCG) determined attempts to recruit staff from India. “What the UMCG is doing is morally irresponsible. India has a desperate need to hold on to these nurses,” says SP Member of Parliament Henk van Gerven.

21 August 2009

Iranians in Ashraf refugee camp need protection

The SP and the centre-right CDA have joined together to express grave concern over the safety of Iranian exiles housed in the Ashraf refugee camp in Iraq. Iraqi security forces stormed the camp earlier this month in a show of excessive violence. The Iranian refugees have ‘protected person’ status under the Geneva Convention, but the Iraqi authorities are determined to close Camp Ashraf and send the inhabitants back to Iran.

21 August 2009

EU can help Africa to address its food crisis

African policy makers would be wise, in the first place, to look at what the European Union has itself done in the past to develop its agriculture, rather than listening to what those who currently guide European policy are saying, according to Niek Koning and Eric Smaling.

International