Nieuws van de afdeling

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.

28 March 2006

Van Velzen seeks end to dodgy wood imports: “If in doubt, keep it out”

SP Member of Parliament and environment spokeswoman Krista van Velzen is calling for the burden of proof of origin of imported wood to be reversed. If the importer cannot produce a recognised quality mark and supporting paperwork, the wood in question should not be approved for import. Explaining her proposal, Ms Van Velzen said: “We need to place the responsibility on the strongest party. This would help persuade importers to select wood from sustainable sources and reduce international demand for cheap garden benches for which rain forests are being illegally felled.”

28 March 2006

Van Velzen writes to Foreign Minister asking for action to end Canadian seal hunt

The Canadian hunting season has opened. This means that up to 350,000 seals will in the coming weeks be clubbed to death for their pelts, some of them being skinned alive. The Dutch government is waiting for European measures which will ban the import of seal furs, but SP Member of Parliament Krista van Velzen doesn't agree that we should rely on others to take action. In an open letter to Foreign Minister Ben Bot, she urges that immediate measures be taken by the Netherlands and asks the minister to take a stronger line with the Canadian government.

27 March 2006

SP supports petition against war on Iran

A group of Dutch citizens of Iranian descent has taken the initiative to set up a petition in order to draw attention to the threat of war against Iran. Under the heading “No war against Iran” they are using a website to solicit signatures against the military threats against Iran coming principally from the US, whose government gives the possibly malevolent aims of the country's nuclear energy programme as its reason for the threat. Iran is working on uranium enrichment, a technology which could enable the production of nuclear weapons and which the US therefore wants to stop Iran from developing. As things stand, the US is attempting to persuade the United Nations Security Council to introduce punitive measures against Iran's nuclear policy.

International