Nieuws van de afdeling

18 January 2007

Europe chips away at rail

"With this proposal for the further liberalisation of rail transport, the European rail network will suffer still more cuts and travellers will be forced to take the plane.” So said SP Euro-MP and United Left Group (GUE-NGL) transport spokesman Erik Meijer yesterday during a lengthy exposition of the damaging consequences of previous moves to liberalise railways. Mr Meijer called on the European Parliament to vote to reject the latest of such plans.

17 January 2007

Van Bommel: Continuing with European Constitution historic blunder

With her statement that the European Constitution must be adopted within two years, German Chancellor Angela Merkel is showing total contempt for the German and French people and their recent rejection of the proposal. This was the view expressed by SP Member of Parliament and European Union affairs spokesman Harry van Bommel. Reacting to Merkel’s speech before the European Parliament today, Van Bommel said that “It is hard to imagine a worse start to the German EU Presidency.”

17 January 2007

The SP, a party with an international orientation

The SP has been unjustly reproached as a party which turns its back on all that lies beyond the Netherlands, a charge which fails to do justice to its international involvement in the struggle for a better and fairer world. The charge appears to be based on rancour, ignorance and a misguided vision of international solidarity, argue party secretary Hans van Heijningen and Arjan Vliegenthart of the SP's research bureau.

16 January 2007

Little support for rigged EP elections

As expected, the German Christian Democrat Hans-Gert Poetering was this morning ‘elected’ as the new President of the European Parliament. What this rigged election did demonstrate is that there is a great deal of resistance to this system of political horse-trading, under which positions are decided and distributed behind closed doors. Poetering’s majority was significantly smaller than the majority which can be mustered by the total membership of the two political groups which cooked the deal up.

15 January 2007

Poetering elected European Parliament President… behind closed doors

The Christian Democrat Hans-Gert Poetering will be voted European Parliament President tomorrow in an election which is pure show. Condemning the process as wholly undemocratic, SP Euro-MP Kartika Liotard said that “two-and-a-half years ago a deal was done between the two big political groups of centre-right (EPP) and centre-left (PES). They agreed that following the presidency of social democrat Josep Borrel Fontelles, Mr Poetering would have his turn. So, as usual, a president emerges from behind closed doors.”

12 January 2007

Stern criticism from European Court demands changes in Dutch asylum policy

In a judgement issued on Thursday, the European Court of Human Right (ECHR) in Strasbourg made a series of tough, fundamental criticisms of the way in which an asylum request by a Somali refugee was dealt with. SP Member of Parliament and asylum policy spokesman Jan de Wit said that he was pleased with the ECHR’s ruling. “The Court pointed to shortcomings to which we have called attention for some years,” he said. “It seems to me clear that far-reaching changes in policy are needed if we are to comply with this judgement. I will bring these up next week during the debate on the annual budget for the Justice Ministry.”

International