Nieuws van de afdeling

31 July 2008

Alleged bribery surrounding purchase of crown prince's house in Mozambique: SP demands explanation

SP Member of Parliament Ewout Irrgang has for the second time this month asked Development Cooperation Minister Bert Koenders for clarification of circumstances surrounding the building of a holiday home in Mozambique for crown prince Willem-Alexander. His concern was provoked by reports in the weekly news sheet HP/De Tijd on alleged bribery surrounding a project with which the crown prince is associated.

30 July 2008

‘Failure of WTO accord is no disaster’

This week's failure of the negotiations over the World Trade Organisation's free trade agreement is no disaster, according to SP Member of Parliament and development spokesman Ewout Irrgang. “Developing countries were required to give up far too much, to the advantage of the rich countries," Irrgang said. "It is good that they stood their ground."

26 July 2008

The return of history

Jasper van Dijk

25 July 2008

EU Common Agricultural Policy is still distorting the market

Albert-Jan Maat, President of the Dutch farmers' union LTO, argues that 'bashing' the European Union's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) as the source of inequality and hunger in the world makes little sense.(1) Maat praises the CAP's increasingly open character, but in my opinion things are somewhat more complex than that.

25 July 2008

Eurlings, Minister for Transport and Bla-Bla-Bla

Emile Roemer

23 July 2008

SP development spokesman urges minister to step up food aid to Horn of Africa

SP Member of Parliament Ewout Irrgang today urged Development Cooperation Minister Bert Koenders to provide additional funds in the face of the threat of catastrophic food shortages in the Horn of Africa. If nothing is done, and quickly, a disaster will unfold which will make the famine of the early 1990s, in which hundreds of thousands died, pale in comparison. “In April the Netherlands pledged €8 million to the UN's World Food Programme, but as things have turned out this isn't enough," says Irrgang. "I'm calling on the minister to do all in his power to persuade other EU countries to step up aid, as well as doing so himself."

International