Nieuws van de afdeling

19 December 2007

European Court: Free Movement for Services Will Lead to Social Dumping

Today the European Court of Justice (ECJ) issued its ruling in the so-called Vaxholm case. The case concerned a Latvian building form operating in Sweden. The firm refused to respect the nationally-negotiated agreement which, under Sweden's usual system of labour relations, determines pay and conditions in the industry. The unions reacted by taking various forms of industrial action, including strikes. The ruling, which went against the unions, came as no surprise to SP Euro-MP Kartika Liotard: "That giving firms the freedom to provide services within the internal EU market would provide an opportunity for social dumping always seemed to us unavoidable. The Court has today made this the norm in Europe. I'm not surprised, just angry.”

19 December 2007

Back to School: SP will join official voices in giving lessons on Europe

Dutch officials who work for the EU will be going back to their old high schools on 14th April next year to speak to classes, according to a government announcement issued today. Because there's a great deal to be said in response to the government's view of this European Union, the SP would like to join in. "MPs, Senators and other elected representatives, members of the party's internally elected executive, and policy advisers will be available on 14th April 2008 to round out the story of the EU," said Harry van Bommel, SP spokesman on European affairs, in parliament today. The occasion was the annual debate held in the Dutch national parliament on the "state of the European Union."

18 December 2007

SP leader says ‘Support Afghanistan, Stop the War’ as Parliamentary debate on Uruzgan ends

The Netherlands must help Afghanistan, but you don't do that by dropping bombs, said SP leader Jan Marijnissen in this evening's concluding session of the parliamentary debate on the prolongation of the military presence in the troubled province of Uruzgan.

17 December 2007

Afghanistan: Parliamentary debate on prolongation of Dutch military presence – Van Bommel calls for ‘credible reconstruction’

Stop the war, open negotiations with the Taliban and concentrate reconstruction on the north and west of Afghanistan. That was the kernel of the argument presented by SP Member of Parliament and foreign affairs spokesman Harry van Bommel in Monday's debate on the prolongation of the Dutch military mission in the southern Afghan province of Uruzgan.

17 December 2007

Support Afghanistan, Stop the War

Under the slogan “Support Afghanistan, Stop the War”, the organisation “Five to Twelve” organised this morning a demonstration in front of the parliament building in The Hague. The action was timed to precede today's parliamentary debate on the prolongation of the Netherlands' military presence in the troubled Afghan province of Uruzgan.

17 December 2007

Paulus Jansen: Weblog Bali

From Monday 10th to Saturday 15th December, SP Member of Parliament Paulus Jansen visited the Climate Conference on the Indonesian island of Bali. During this, the 13th Climate Conference a start was made on reaching agreement on a successor to the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012. Dutch state news broadcast corporation NOS asked Jansen to write a daily report of his experiences at the Conference. This is an extract from one or two of his blogs, including the the last, written after his flight home, in which he draws his conclusions as to the success or otherwise of the event.

International