Nieuws van de afdeling

24 June 2004

US says NO to international inspection of Guantanamo

The government of the United States refuses any access to its prisoners camp in Guantanamo for international delegations. Therefore the planned fact finding mission of members of the Parliamentary Assembly of NATO had to be cancelled, after it was already postponed for several times. Dutch SP senator Tiny Kox, who would participate in this mission, has asked the Dutch government in what way the much discussed prisoners camp should now be inspected to see whether international treaties and conventions are respected or not by the Americans. Dutch minister of foreign affairs Ben Bot raised the issue already twice with his American colleague Powell but until now without success.

20 June 2004

SP prepares to campaign for a ‘No’ to proposed EU Constitution

Last Friday, government leaders from the EU’s member states reached agreement over the European Constitution. This ‘result’ was achieved by the familiar means of leaving controversial questions – such as sanctions for breaking the rules of the contentious Growth and Stability Pact – poorly resolved. The SP intends to launch a campaign against this constitution.

15 June 2004

Erik Meijer and Kartika Liotard will represent the SP in Brussels and Strasbourg

The SP delegation in the Group of the United European Left-Nordic Green Left (GUE-NGL) in the European Parliament will, in the coming session, consist of current MEP Erik Meijer and the newly-elected Kartika Liotard, a result confirmed yesterday by the Election Council.

24 May 2004

Parliamentarians refused permission to visit Guantanamo

Since receiving an invitation in his capacity as a member of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, Dutch Socialist Party (SP) Senator Tiny Kox has been looking forward to visiting the US concentration camp at Guantanamo Bay. Unfortunately, the Bush junta has decided not to allow parliamentarians to visit the site.

6 March 2004

The Strange Illusion of a ‘Social Europe’

For many years now the thinking of the left in Western Europe has been dominated by an enormously optimistic view of the social policy of the European Union. Trade unions and left parties told everyone that we were on our way to a "Social Europe", one in other words which distributed available work fairly; a Europe which would offer security even to workers with little education, to the unemployed, to those who cannot for whatever reason work, to young people just starting out on working life, to mothers with little experience of work outside the home, to pensioners. As long as the capitalist west of Europe had to compete with an east ruled by communist parties to win the approval of working people, the right wing had nothing to say against this.

20 February 2004

ABN-AMRO withdraws investment from cluster bomb manufacturer following SP actions

In response to months of actions from the SP, ABN-AMRO have announced that they have withdrawn all investment from the British cluster bomb manufacturer Insys. Co-ordinator of the actions, Member of Parliament Krista van Velzen, who describes herself as “overjoyed” by this success, said: “I’d like to congratulate everyone who took part in the actions on their victory, but also the management of ABN-AMRO on their decision. It is now up to the government to get cluster bombs banned internationally.”

International