International

In times of crisis, international solidarity is more than ever necessary, simply because this is the most civilised way to deal with the problem. By cooperating we can better protect people's health and maintain as far as possible our employment and our productive capacity. It makes a mockery of things to be falling out at European Union at such a time, and to be widening the economic differences between northern and southern states.  We need to cooperate in our approach to the fight against the coronavirus, out of respect for all the people who now stand in the front line of our public services, indebted as we are to these soldiers in the line of fire.  

Interest rates are at an historic low and even threaten to become negative. This is creating problems for almost all pension funds in the Netherlands, forcing them to reduce eight million pensions. Saving could begin to cost money, rather than producing gains in the form of interest payments. We put three questions on the issue of the low interest rates and the European Central Bank to SP Member of Parliament Renske Leijten.

After five years in the wilderness the Russian Parliament, has at last sent representatives to PACE, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg.  SP Senator Tiny Kox served as an important architect of the Russian return to Europe's oldest treaty-based organisation. “The growing tension threatens everyone in Europe,” he says.

Recently a car from 'Top Couriers' came to the SP (Socialist Party in the Netherlands), with an 'urgent letter' for Ronald van Raak. The letter came from mBet Solutions, an online gambling company that operates internationally from Curaçao. The gambling company threatens me with a legal process, following a broadcast from BBC Radio about the online gambling industry. Another threatening letter from a gambling boss, that was a while ago. In 2016, Mafia boss Francesco Corallo sent his lawyer Gerard Spong to me, but he broke his teeth on this case. The same Corallo is now on trial in Italy for large-scale fraud and bribing politicians. I also received a strange report from a "detective" who by order of the former Curacao Prime Minister Gerrit Schotte came to investigate me. This Schotte has been imprisoned for three years now because he has been bribed by Mafia boss Corallo.

Introduction

From Wednesday 29th May to Saturday 1st June, we visited Moscow, Russia’s capital. We spoke with, amongst others, politicians from governing as well as opposition parties, with researchers, journalists and human rights defenders. The most important reason why we were there is that we are extremely worried about rising tension between East and West, about the new Cold War which has begun in the last few years. Following the annexation of the Crimea and the broader military intervention in eastern Ukraine, relations between the West and Russia have cooled. The shooting down over Ukraine of flight MH17 in July 2014, by means of a Buk surface-to-air missile in the possession of the Russian army, put these relations under further pressure, specifically those between Russia and the Netherlands, from where the flight departed, with many Dutch nationals on board.

“After five years of absence, Russia finally fulfills its obligation to send a delegation from the Russian parliament to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. This puts an end to the “cafeteria interpretation” on the Russian side that a country itself decides which of the statutory bodies of Europe’s largest and oldest treaty organization it participates in and which does not.” states the chairman of the UEL Group, Mr. Kox.

“The wealth of St. Eustatius is beyond your imagination,” the English admiral George Rodney wrote in 1781, just before he would plunder the Dutch colony and rob the merchants of their money and goods. This small island in the Caribbean was called the Golden Rock back then. It was a free port where everyone could buy everything, from slaves and goods to ships and weapons. The island flourished during the American Independence War (1775-1783), when the colonies in North America freed themselves from the English motherland and the armaments of the rebels largely took place via Statia. Until the English seized the opportunity and plundered the island. This history is described by Willem de Bruin, in his recently published historic novel De Gouden Rots (The Golden Rock). De Bruin, a former journalist, shows in an accessible way how Statia played an historical role in the rise of the United States, but at the same time in the decline of the Dutch Republic.

The fact that europhile politicians and opinion-makers cry shame about the SP's satirical campaign video on the fictional European Commissioner Hans Brusselmans, foaming at the mouth about populism and 'political porn', is not surprising. This always happens when hard-hitting criticisms are levelled at the European Union and the hoped for European Superstate. It happened during the referendum on the proposed European Constitution and again during the referendum on Ukraine. With this reflex the europhiles are denying that any alternative is possible. It's striking that there is so much anger and ballyhoo about our critique, while poverty in the European Union, for example, continues to be accepted. It's time for debate about what sort of European cooperation we want, cooperation in which Brussels is no longer the boss.

The car manufacturers who for years issued fraudulent information on their exhaust emissions could, via European Commission 'expert groups', exert influence on legislation. SP Euro-MP Dennis de Jong brought to light the way these groups function. “Dieselgate showed once more how important it is that the multinationals' influence must be greatly reduced.”