Nieuws van de afdeling

8 August 2007

Foot-and-Mouth threat: no to mass slaughter, yes to vaccination of healthy animals

SP Member of Parliament Krista van Velzen wants to see preventative vaccination against Foot-and-Mouth Disease made compulsory. “The outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease in Great Britain has once again made it clear that the current EU policy is wrong," she said.

1 August 2007

SP calls for maximum journey times for animal transports

The government must forcefully put the case to other EU member states for maximum journey times for international animal transports, argues SP Member of Parliament and animal welfare spokeswoman Krista van Velzen. Van Velzen is also calling for existing rules to be more vigorously enforced. The animal welfare group "Varkens in Nood" (Pigs in Distress) has used the most terrible pictures to demonstrate that these rules are being widely flouted.

22 July 2007

Bringing peace to the middle east: SP foreign affairs spokesman's observations after visiting the region

SP Member of Parliament Harry van Bommel recently spent a week in the Middle East as a member of the parliamentary committee on foreign affairs. The delegation first visited Israel before going on to the Palestinian Territory on the West Bank of the Jordan, then to Jordan and finally to Syria. Van Bommel and his parliamentary colleagues had the opportunity to talk to politicians from all sides, UN employees, human rights organisations, refugees, journalists and a range of NGOs. On his return, he summed up his experiences and the political conclusions he had drawn from them.

20 July 2007

Senate will decide in autumn whether to launch parliamentary enquiry into Netherlands' role in Iraq War

The Senate has backed a proposal from the SP to hold a debate on whether to launch a parliamentary enquiry into Dutch involvement in the war against Iraq. With only the right-wing opposition party the VVD opposed to the holding of such a debate, it will take place after the summer recess. The VVD, which suffered losses in last year's general election and as a consequence moved into opposition, was part of the governing coalition which was responsible for the Netherlands' actions during the 2003 war.

6 July 2007

No compulsory tenders for urban public transport

Parliament decided this evening that the public transport systems of the country's four biggest cities need not be put out to tender. SP public transport spokesman Emile Roemer described the decision as an important break from longstanding trends. “Parliament recognises that the market is not always the best mechanism for public transport. The SP's longstanding resistance to privatisation is clearly bearing fruit. Without us urban public transport would have gone to the highest bidder and we would have been faced with a host of new problems."

4 July 2007

Put the occupation back at the top of the international agenda

The stupidest thing that the international community can do is to reward one half of the Palestinian people because they come directly under Fatah's leadership, and punish the other half because they remain under the Hamas government. Europe must not join in the divide-and-rule politics of Israel and the US but follow its own course.

International