International

Following the disappointing vote by at the European Parliament’s Committee on International Trade, the SP is launching a ‘People’s Resolution’ on the controversial trade treaty with Canada. The negotiation process has not been transparent, the proposal is not ready for a decision to be taken, and the treaty sacrifices important achievements in exchange for uncertain promises. The SP wants to offer the peoples of Europe time and space to respond.

The opening of the borders to central and eastern European (CEE) workers just a decade ago has led to labour market dislocation in the countries from which people have been attracted and repression, exploitation and underpayment in the Netherlands. The SP wants to see rogue temping agencies banned and work permits introduced for workers from CEE countries.

SP Senator Tiny Kox, who has visited both Israel and Palestine on several occasions on behalf of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, says he is in full agreement with Foreign Minister Bert Koenders who on Sunday stated that in his view the two-state solution will cease to be viable should Israel continue to build illegal settlements on Palestinian territory. The SP’s own national Congress on Saturday, called to prepare for March 15th’s general election, passed a resolution, initiated by Kox, calling on the Dutch government to recognise the Palestinian State. “I agree with the minister’s words,” says Kox, “but it’s now up to him to follow up his words with deeds.”

On Saturday 14th January more than a thousand SP members gathered in Tilburg for the party’s twenty-second congress. On the same day, in an interview with national daily Algemeen Dagblad (AD), party leader Emile Roemer called for a pact between progressive parties and ruled out going into any ruling coalition with the VVD, the right-wing element in the present two-party government. Roemer told AD that “in saying this I am giving you a guarantee that we will not help the right to form a majority”. His aim is to persuade other parties to join him in isolating the VVD, which unlike its Labour Party coalition partner is performing respectably in the polls. “When people vote for a left party they expect left policies,” he said.

Labour Party Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem has recently been arguing in favour of higher taxes on corporations. SP Members of Parliament Arnold Merkies and Ronald van Raak observe that in practice he is doing something quite different.

Last year Trade Minister Lilianne Ploumen was arguing in favour of a ‘reset’ of free trade policy aimed at making fairer agreements. Yet she seems to have few concerns about the new, CETA-like accord with Japan, say Anne-Marie Mineur and Jasper van Dijk.

Advocate-General Eleanor Sharpston, senior advisor to the European Court of Justice is of the opinion that national parliaments of the member states must be given the chance to participate in decision-making in relation to the conclusion of a trade treaty with Singapore. The SP agrees, and wants to see this advice followed.

The Dutch national Parliament has voted to support a proposal from SP Member of Parliament Eric Smaling for a thorough enquiry into the working conditions of airlines involved in a price war.

“Cheap airlines such as Ryanair and WizzAir are conducting a price war on the backs of staff and passengers. An enquiry into around seven thousand pilots working in the European Union arrived at shocking conclusions. Pilots at this kind of carrier have to put up with poor safety policies and are expected to fly even if they are too exhausted or sick,” says Smaling.

The SP voted on Thursday against the prolongation of the Dutch participation in the UN mission in Mali. SP Member of Parliament Jasper van Dijk explains: “Because of its controversial goals, the mission in Mali is a mission impossible. The task is on the one hand the restoration of state control and on the other reconciliation between the warring parties. That can’t be done at one and the same time, because UN soldiers will be seen as allies of the Malian government. Opponents of the government, such as the Tuareg in Mali’s north, thus consider the United Nations to be an enemy.”