Nieuws van de afdeling

2 September 2008

SP Euro-MP calls for ban on cloned meat

The European Food Safety Authority‭ (‬EFSA‭) ‬has demonstrated it:‭ ‬a study by the body charged with ensuring that food sold to the public in the twenty-seven EU member states is safe to eat has shown that a significant proportion of cloned animals experience adverse effects.‭ ‬Despite this,‭ ‬the European Commission is trying to sneak recognition of meat from cloned animals as an approved foodstuff in through the back door.‭ ‬The Commission wants to use the new EU Regulation on Novel Foods to add cloned meat to Europe's menu.‭

29 August 2008

The SP in Europe

Current European issues and the SP's approach – Important items on next week's European Parliament Plenary Agenda

28 August 2008

Canada's lame excuses for cruel seal hunt

Members of the European Parliament received this week in their post a lobbying document from the Canadian government. The Canadians are unhappy about the Netherlands' desire to see an import ban on seal products. SP Euro-MP Kartika Liotard has been at the forefront of campaigning in the European Parliament for a ban on the trade in seal fur. The European Commission's proposal on the issue still leaves quite a bit to be done and Canada is really pulling out the stops to find aspects of international regulations which will enable it to fight such a ban.

28 August 2008

The Brussels Grab Bag

Floods of subsidies flow from Brussels to the 27 member states and to countries which are in the process of joining the EU. For the latter, this 'pre-accession support' is aimed at strengthening the infrastructure and economy of the candidate member states so that they can keep their end up in the European competitive battle and, to look at it from the other end, so that the existing member states can more easily market their products there. Thus far, no problem, merely a demonstration that the EU is in essence an economic project, one in which in the end we are primarily promoting trade with each other.

28 August 2008

Council of Europe Sends Fact-finding Mission to Georgia and Russia

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) is shortly to send the presidents of five of its political groups on a fact-finding tour of Georgia and Russia. Their purpose will be to gather information on the causes and consequences of the bloody war fought between the two states earlier this month over the secession of Georgian provinces South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Thousands of dead, wounded and fleeing people paid the price of the irresponsible behaviour of both states and their serious breaching of international legal obligations.

22 August 2008

EU acts against blocking of Chinese broadcaster NTDTV

'I'm pleased with the European Commission's announcement that they are going to do something about the blocking of NTDTV's broadcasts into China', says SP Euro-MP Erik Meijer in response to reports in the media. Meijer put a number of questions on the issue to the Commission at the beginning of July and in the same month took part in a demonstration protesting against the silencing of the news service. The questions have not yet received an answer from the Commission, however.

International