Nieuws van de afdeling

13 March 2008

European Parliament thwarts attempts to tackle farm subsidies

The European Commission is taking a careful first step on the way to tackling the misuse to which farm subsidies are put by major landowners and multinationals. Today, however, the European Parliament voted yet again to weaken the Commission's proposals. SP Euro-MP Kartika Liotard: "We support the Commission in this and did not therefore vote in favour of the Parliament's proposal."

12 March 2008

SP votes against extension of EU milk quotas

The SP's European Parliamentary group today voted against the European Commission's proposed 2% extension of milk quotas. The SP instead supported the alternative proposal to give member states the space to decide their own level of quota for themselves.

11 March 2008

SP's new course will be more controversial

The SP spent the year following its huge electoral success of November, 2006 in a period of reflective self-assessment, and is now ready to take on the government and to explain itself through the media and to the people. The government should not expect to be able to count on kind treatment. “From now on we are not going to be doing them any favours,” says SP leader Jan Marijnissen in this recent interview with the financial and business daily, Financieele Dagblad.

5 March 2008

SP development spokesman to attend UN Aids Summit

SP Member of Parliament Ewout Irrgang will next week attend a young leaders' summit at the invitation of UN Aids chief Peter Piot. The conference will discuss priorities for the world-wide fight against Aids in the next twenty-five years.

5 March 2008

Meat approval system in Netherlands may be illegal

The Dutch Food and Food Products Authority (VWA) has farmed out its legal duty to approve or reject meat from slaughtered animals to the private sector, in the form of commercial corporation KDS plc. SP Euro-MP Kartika Liotard will today put a series of questions on the issue to the European Commission. "In my opinion," she says, "the intention of the legislation is not that commercial firms take over this sort of task. In fact it isn't permitted for them to do so."

4 March 2008

Drugs: Policies should be judged by their results, not by ideology

Three Dutch mayors and two Members of Parliament call on their country to make vigorous demands at international level for an effective policy on drugs. The Netherlands, say the five, must play an innovative and tone-setting role in the coming discussions in the UN on a new international drugs policy.

International