International

CETA will cost the European Union 204,000 jobs and create sectoral distortions which will lead to long-term unemployment, according to a ruling by which the European Parliament Employment and Social Affairs Committee rejected the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement with Canada. The Committee voted to endorse an extremely critical report from    Bulgarian social democrat Georgi Pirinski.

From 2017 soft drugs – basically, cannabis and its derivatives –should be subject to more intelligent regulation. A parliamentary majority supported the SP’s proposal to this effect. Implementation would put an end to the current bizarre situation under which the open sale of cannabis is tolerated, yet its purchase by vendors – the euphemistically named ‘coffee shops’ – is illegal. SP Member of Parliament Nine Kooiman points out that “as things stand coffee shop operators are forced to do business with criminals. The government must stop creating crooks and instead concentrate its attention on public health and on prevention.”