International

“Now that the Lisbon Treaty is a fact, we can no longer get around the reality that the European Council will have a permanent chairperson. We will, however, be keeping a critical eye on the holder of this new office, Herman van Rompuy. If he moves in the direction of becoming the president of a European superstate, he'll find the SP standing in his way." So says SP Member of Parliament and European affairs spokesman Harry van Bommel in reaction to the appointment of the Belgian Prime Minister.

Van Bommel believes that Van Rompuy's appointment will be good for the Netherlands. "Van Rompuy comes from a small country which will make it harder for the interests of small countries to be overlooked. At the same team he is not known as a strong political leader and so it seems unlikely that he is going to pursue his own political agenda.”

The SP sees only one major disadvantage in the choice of Van Rompuy. “Now they've decided against our own premier Jan Peter Balkenende," Van Bommel notes, "there's no reason to have new elections in the Netherlands."