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3 March 2009

EU member states' right to ban GMOs upheld

An EU member state must have the right to ban genetically modified maize. This view prevailed during yesterday's meeting of the Council of Environment Ministers. The European Commission was looking, with the support of the Netherlands' environment minister Jacqueline Cramer - a Labour member of the governing coalition – to rap Austria and Hungary on the knuckles. Both countries have concluded that such maize presents a risk to human health and the environment and for that reason wanted to maintain their ban. They have now won the right to continue to exclude Monsanto and Bayer products in question.

3 March 2009

Questions on emergency plans for euro

'Are you prepared to promote public confidence in the financial system by preparing timely emergency measures, rather than waiting until the need for them occurs?' This was one of the questions on the matter which SP Euro-MP Erik Meijer put to the Commission today.

27 February 2009

Fearing compensating victims, Netherlands is not apologizing to the Kurds

Rudaw- Netherlands
Harry van Bommel is one of the leaders of Netherlands Socialist Party and he is a close friend of the Kurds. He, as a member of parliament, has always defended Kurds. A few weeks ago Bommel called on the Netherlands foreign minister, Maxime Verhage, to explain why Kurdish politician and activist Leyla Zana has been arrested by Turkey again. "I do not accept the response of foreign minister" he told Rudaw in an exclusive interview."

24 February 2009

SP cannot support 'Barcelona Process'

The EU wants to strengthen the economies of the Middle East and to further sustainability. This could be achieved via a Union for the Mediterranean. A union which would include countries which are not member states. The European Parliament discussed attempts to create such a union, part of a process known in the Brussels jargon as the 'Barcelona process', in Brussels on 19th February.

24 February 2009

NATO at 60: harmful and superfluous

"The EU is, in the history of humanity, an unequalled success in which people attempt to see a 'foreigner' as another unique human being, as a partner rather than a competitor. Slowly but surely we are becoming a worldwide human team." And: "prospective solutions are needed" for a "renewed EU-NATO relationship" capable of solving security problems.

21 February 2009

Dennis de Jong will head SP list for European elections

The Party Council of the SP today nominated 53-year-old Rotterdam-based Dennis de Jong to head its list for June's European elections. "The Netherlands wants less interference from Brussels, and the best way to achieve this is by having more SP Euro-MPs there," he said, in his address thanking delegates for their support.

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