International

With this statement, SP Member of Parliament Ronald van Raak gives voice to his conviction that the Dutch Antilles remains a tax haven, and that for this reason the islands' debts should not be written off. Van Raak was reacting to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which has announced that in its view the islands can no longer be described as a tax haven. “According to the OECD everything on the islands is hunky dory," says Van Raak, "because they are cooperating with requests for information. In the meantime tax avoidance via the Antilles continues."

Dennis de Jong, number one on the SP's list for the forthcoming European Parliament elections, believes the newly-proposed energy label put forward by the European Commission to be "misleading". The Commission's proposal is for the 'A-label', an EU mark designed to encourage energy efficiency, to be offered to more products, with the less energy efficient given a lower percentage figure. “The Commission has once again been lending a keen ear to the views of the corporate business lobby, which has been the case for years," says De Jong. "Instead of the A-label creating more exacting demands, it has been watered down with percentage figures which will not be clear to people. The consumer and the environment lose, while the corporate business lobby celebrates."