International

Raisa is a woman in her twenties, well educated, with a good job and the first house of her own. You'd think this would be a sound basis for a fine future, but it turns out that nothing could be further from the truth. Her house has suffered so much damage as a result of the gas extraction practised in Groningen, in the north of the Netherlands, where Raisa lives, that it has been declared unsafe and uninhabitable. Then came hope, however. Agencies came up with a plan to make the house safe again. Meanwhile she's living in a lean-to adjacent to it. Then she gets a letter telling her that reinforcement of houses in the region of Groningen which has suffered earthquakes as a result of the gas extraction is to be suspended. And the last shreds of hope which Raisa still placed in the government and the companies responsible for this catastrophe disappeared.

While highly placed officials in Jerusalem were attending the opening yesterday of the American embassy in the city, the Israeli army was inflicting a bloodbath on the people of the Gaza Strip. According to the latest information, 58 people have been killed and 2,700 wounded, all of them on the Palestinian side.

The memoranda regarding the abolition of the Netherlands' tax on dividends reveal the government at its worst. In the wake of the clumsy drivel about who knew what and when and who knew about which memoranda and who could or could not remember them, the Dutch people are left with a bewildering textbook example of a shareholders' economy and fraud hidden from sight.

Payments increased, income from customs duties reduced, and the Netherlands' rebate ended. Robbed by the European Commission three times over. The proposed new budget presented today by the Commission goes beyond all previous limits. Renske Leijten, SP spokeswoman on EU affairs in the national parliament, believes that a smaller European Union, without the United Kingdom, should also mean a smaller budget.

While there have been positive developments in recent weeks in the relationship between North and South Korea, tensions surrounding Iran have at the same time been intensifying in rapid tempo. This is an extremely worrying development which could lead to an eruption of violence. That must be prevented.

We've all seen it from time to time in the supermarket: food so cheap we ask ourselves how anyone can make money from it. How can a chicken or a bag of onions cost so little? Of course as consumers we're glad, especially if we're on a low income, but at the same time we have the feeling that somewhere along the way there must be losers. Who are the losers in the food supply chain? And what can we do about it?

'Operation Olive Branch' – it would be hard to come up with a more cynical name for the Turkish invasion of the northern Syrian town of Afrin. Since January 20th, when the first Turkish bombs fell, the invasion has cost hundreds of lives, while the world watches on. SP foreign affairs spokeswoman Sadet Karabulut, MP, continues to urge an uncompromising condemnation of President Erdogan's warmongering politics. She was interviewed by Leslie Arp for the SP monthly De Tribune, where this article first appeared, in the original Dutch.

For the SP, the revised trade treaty with Mexico that the European Commission concluded during the weekend represents a huge disappointment when seen from the point of view of the protection of human rights or ethical business practice. “Obviously the European Commission finds getting one over on President Trump of more importance than fulfilling its own ambitions in relation to fair trade,” says SP Euro-MP Anne-Marie Mineur. “One after another, free trade agreements are being signed at a murderous pace, while existing free trade and globalisation are increasing inequality across the world.”

Labour migration, principally from eastern Europe, must be much better regulated. The uncontrolled influx of migrant workers is leading to trouble, to repression and exploitation. SP Member of Parliament Jasper van Dijk has five proposals to regulate the movement of workers.