Nieuws van de afdeling

15 September 2006

SP demands emergency debate on open borders for eastern European workers

The Socialist Party has described the government's decision to remove remaining restrictions on the entry of workers from eastern Europe in twenty-three sectors as “totally irresponsible”. SP Member of Parliament Jan de Wit, who is demanding an emergency debate on the decision, said “They have considered only the interests of big corporations and have no thought for the consequences for those workers who have already been thrown on the scrapheap or who are about to qualify to practice a skilled trade.”

13 September 2006

Tests on animals: more money needed to develop alternatives

The European Parliament Agriculture Committee voted on Tuesday to back a proposal from SP Euro-MP Kartika Liotard to make more money available to develop alternatives to animal testing as quickly as possible.

13 September 2006

Secret CIA prisons: Stop cooperation with US in Afghanistan

The parliamentary debate over US-Dutch relations today took an unpleasant turn when the right-wing attempted to block voting on a resolution brought forward by the small centrist party D66. SP Member of Parliament Harry van Bommel was forced to use a roundabout procedure in order to save the motion, which called for an enquiry into the Netherlands' support for the war in Iraq. Earlier in the day's debate Mr van Bommel had Christian Democrat Foreign Minister Ben Bot on the ropes when he said that "Either you accept that the US is guilty of human rights abuses and declare that this is justified because it serves a higher interest, the fight against terrorism, which as far as I'm concerned means that our country would be added, along with the US, to the list of rogue states, or you don't accept the US policy, which decision would lead to certain conclusions. For example that cooperation with the US in those areas where people are being held in secret prisons must be ended."

12 September 2006

European ban on castration without prior stunning

The European Parliament Agriculture Committee today voted to back an SP proposal to ban castration of piglets without prior stunning throughout the European Union. “This is a victory for piglets, consumers and farmers,” said SP Euro-MP Kartika Liotard. “Exactly two years ago Agriculture Commissioner Fisher-Boel told me that there was no possibility of such a measure, but if this goes through he’ll have no choice.”

12 September 2006

SP: cooperation with US ‘up for discussion’

SP foreign affairs spokesman Harry van Bommel is urging Foreign Minister Ben Bot to summon the American Ambassador in The Hague in order to demand that President Bush's government apologise for lying about alleged links between Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden. The announcement that the longstanding, confident assertion that such links existed turns out to have been wrong should give the Dutch government occasion to call for formal talks with its American counterpart. The Netherlands should, moreover, demand that the US close its secret prisons, with the alternative being that we curtail our cooperation in Afghanistan.

11 September 2006

Netherlands must support European Citizens' Initiative proposal

The Dutch government should give firm support to the proposal to introduce a European Citizens Initiative, by means of which members of the public who are able to collect a petition bearing one million signatures can put an issue on the EU's political agenda, argued SP Member of Parliament and European affairs spokesman Harry van Bommel during this morning's parliamentary and governmental debate on the country's role in Europe. “People should have more opportunities to contribute to the debate over Europe," he said. "If not, it will continue to seem remote from their lives.”

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