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9 October 2007

Afghanistan: NATO fights, Karzai talks

It will not be NATO but the President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai, who will decide whether, when and where talks will be held with the Taliban over how to bring an end to six years of war in the country, said NATO Secretary General Jaap De Hoop Scheffer at today's meeting of the alliance's parliamentary assembly in Reykjavik. The assembly, in which SP Senate leader Tiny Kox and foreign affairs spokesman Harry van Bommel participate as part of the Netherlands' delegation, was debating the situation in Afghanistan, and the future of NATO.

4 October 2007

Questioned by SP Senator, President Gül acknowledges past ill-treatment of Kurds

In answer to questions from SP Senator Tiny Kox, Turkish President Abdullah Gül, following his speech to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), acknowledged that his country had in the past denied political and cultural rights to its Kurdish population. He promised improvements and said that he was proud of the present government's reform policies. Kurds now enjoy the right, via Kurdish-language newspapers and broadcasters, freely to express their views, the President said in his first address to an international body since his election.

2 October 2007

Council of Europe turns down debate on planned rocket shield

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) is for the time being refusing to make a pronouncement regarding the political consequences of the projected installation of an American rocket shield in Poland and the Czech Republic. A request for an emergency debate from SP Senator Tiny Kox was denied, despite promises of support from the chair of every political group represented in the Assembly. Senator Kox, himself chair of the United European Left group (GUE), described the refusal as 'ridiculous', adding that 'If this subject isn't urgent, or if it doesn't belong to the core of the Council of Europe's business, then what on earth does?'

2 October 2007

Parliament supports SP motion calling for embargo on Burma as demonstrators picket Total station

A majority in Parliament's main legislative chamber has given its support to a motion from the SP and the Labour Party (PvdA) calling for economic sanctions against the Burmese military regime. The motion calls on the Dutch government to take the initiative at the European level in favour of putting the regime under pressure through economic sanctions.

29 September 2007

Government evades responsibility to take its own decision on a referendum

The government is acting as if the Council of State has issued an instruction rather than offering advice. But it is for politicians to determine what it is that they want.

28 September 2007

SP Member of Parliament in Brussels protest against free trade agreements

Member of Parliament and SP development spokesman Ewout Irrgang took part yesterday in a protest action in front of the European Commission headquarters in Brussels. The action was aimed at the free trade agreements which the European Union is attempting to foist on a number of former European colonies in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific, the so-called ACP countries. The demonstration was part of a coordinated series of actions internationally, including one in front of the national parliament building in The Hague.

International