Nieuws van de afdeling

5 November 2008

Critical SP Euro-MP not welcome in Belarus

Belarus is not prepared to allow SP Euro-MP Erik Meijer to visit the country. A delegation from the European Parliament's United Left group was to travel next week to Belarus to meet with both opposition leaders and the government as well as with victims of the nuclear disaster in Chernobyl. Erik Meijer was intending to join four other MEPs on the visit, from 10th to 14th November. "I had hoped for an overture," he explained, "but the old line is being continued: contact with critics is not desirable."

31 October 2008

Dutch tram company in breach of Geneva Convention

The 'Haagse Tramweg Maatschappij' (HTM – The Tram Company of The Hague) is in flagrant breach of the Geneva Convention in offering help to Israel in the construction of a light rail connection through occupied East Jerusalem, the Palestinian area of the city. The Dutch government must put an immediate end to the publicly-owned company's involvement, says SP Member of Parliament Harry van Bommel. French companies which are also involved in the project will be brought before the courts next month. The Netherlands should not allow things to go that far, insists the SP's international affairs spokesman.

29 October 2008

Where now for NATO?

NATO has taken enormous pretensions upon itself. It believes itself capable of acting as the world's regional peacekeeping force, of making up for a failing United Nations. That is, at any rate, the official standpoint. In reality the alliance has become an extension of America's policy of intervention.

29 October 2008

EU must issue warning on tachograph manipulation

The tachograph on a lorry can be manipulated with a magnet in order to give a false reading of working hours. A driver who refuses to agree to this under pressure from his or her boss risks getting the sack, according to Dutch trade union group FNV-Bondgenoten. SP Euro-MP Erik Meijer, who sits on the European Parliament's Transport Committee, is urging the European Commission to inform the member states immediately about such practices and how they might be stopped.

29 October 2008

Flexibilisation and labour migration

As a Romanian you have reason enough to want to be somewhere else. Almost one in ten have chosen that option. Ten percent of the population, that is, not 'only' ten percent of the workforce. In November the Dutch Parliament will debate the complete removal of all border restrictions on workers from Romania and Bulgaria. For SP Euro-MP Erik Meijer, this gives occasion to confront the European Commission with a number of annoying questions. "Europe prides itself on having made the labour market more flexible," he says. "Wouldn't it be better if the EU measured its success in terms of its capacity to make labour migration unnecessary?"

27 October 2008

Animal protection activists frustrated by minister's obstructive attitude

Animal protection activists want to know where a sum of €12m for aid to stray animals in Greece has disappeared to. SP Euro-MP Erik Meijer is taking up the cudgels on their behalf in Brussels and is also anxious to find out why the work of Greek and other animal welfare organisations, including some from the Netherlands, is being deliberately thwarted by Greek Agriculture Minister Konstantinos Kiltidis.

International