Nieuws van de afdeling

3 September 2007

250,000 'Troops Out' Leaflets Call for End to Mission in Uruzgan

The Dutch mission in the Afghan province of Uruzgan must not be extended – that is the message of a leaflet distributed today by the 'Troops Out of Afghanistan' Committee. The Committee includes the SP, the Green Left party, the Stop the War coalition and the Platform against the New War. The leaflet, which takes the form of a newspaper presenting the Committee's arguments against the prolongation of the mission, has a print run of 250,000, a huge number for a country whose population is just under 16.5 million. SP foreign affairs spokesman Harry van Bommel explained that the paper "puts the arguments behind the wish of the majority of the population that there should be no prolongation of the mission in Uruzgan. We can and must help the Afghan people, but in another way.'

10 August 2007

Both Wilders and Islamist extremists have lost all sense of reality

Right wing MP Geert Wilders' intolerance, as much as Islamic extremism, represents a threat to democratic values, argues SP leader Jan Marijnissen.

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.

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