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11 April 2006

Van Bommel demands response from Foreign Minister over alleged US plan to attack Iran

SP Foreign Affairs spokesman Harry van Bommel has asked Foreign Minster Ben Bot to give his view of the article "The Iran Plans” published in this week's New Yorker magazine. According to the author, respected journalist Seymour Hersch, the United States government is giving serious consideration to the possibility of attacking Iran with tactical nuclear weapons. The weapons would be used to destroy strongly defended underground bunkers.

10 April 2006

The reserve army of France’s ‘banlieues’

The last few years have seen religious faultlines appear in our societies. With the riots in the deprived outer suburbs of Paris we are witnessing a return to a time when the faultline ran between the people of no property and the propertied class. Time for Marx, writes Ronald van Raak.*

6 April 2006

European Employment Commissioner "juggling with statistics"

European Commissioner for Employment and Social Affairs Vladimir Spidla, due to address today's Dutch parliamentary hearing on open borders for workers from the new member states, is guilty of juggling the statistics and of blatant propaganda, according to SP Member of Parliament Jan de Wit. Mr de Wit's accusation came in reaction to Commissioner Spidla’s assertion that the countries which applied no limits to the influx of workers from central and eastern Europe had performed better economically, enjoying greater employment growth and falling unemployment. “He makes no attempt to substantiate this statement statistically, while the figures which he does present simply do not permit one to draw these conclusions. In practice what is revealed, furthermore, is that there are major problems attached to such a policy.”

5 April 2006

Restrictions on free movement of workers from new member states: European Parliament votes in favour of instantaneous abolition

If it were up to the majority in the European Parliament, all restrictions on the free movement of workers from any member state would be immediately abolished. SP Euro-MP Erik Meijer opposed the resolution carried today at the EP's plenary in Strasbourg on the grounds that it was premature. "The limited right of entry to the labour market that exists is already leading to difficulties, to the closing down of whole sectors including road haulage and pressure on the principle of equal pay for equal work,” he explained.

31 March 2006

Marijnissen: ‘Open borders will make the Netherlands Europe’s social dumping ground’

In the SP's view the government's decision to remove all further restrictions on the entry of workers from the new EU member states is incomprehensible. Commenting on the decision, SP leader Jan Marijnissen described it as "irresponsible", adding that “failing to maintain any regulation will make us the social dumping ground of Europe. The measures which the cabinet is proposing in order to address the problems involved are utterly inadequate and will, I fear, result in a huge, uncontrolled influx."

28 March 2006

De Wit questions employment minister's response to problem of removal of borders

Secretary of State for Social Affairs and Employment Henk van Hoof is seeking to delay the opening of borders to workers from the new EU member states until 1st January 2007 instead of the coming 1st May, as previously announced. SP Member of Parliament Jan de Wit, however, is not convinced that the government, despite its statement to the contrary, will in seven months' time have the measures in place which are needed to deal satisfactorily with evasion of labour laws and with unfair competition. “Mr Van Hoof clearly has a completely erroneous picture of the consequences which will follow the opening of borders. In Ireland they have had two years' experience of this and fully 5% of the workforce is now Polish. Even if the proportion of our workforce turned out to be half of this, we'd be talking about 175,000 people. But of course the Netherlands is rather nearer to Poland than is Ireland, and Poland is not the only new EU member state, so the proportion would probably be greater rather than smaller.

International