International

The SP today launched its campaign for the referendum on the EU’s Association Agreement with Ukraine at a rally in Amsterdam. Speakers included Harry van Bommel, Member of Parliament for the SP, Ukrainian employer Elena Plotnikova and Kees van der Pijl, professor emeritus in international relations. After the gathering dozens of SP members spread through the neighbourhood to discuss the referendum, to be held on 6th April, with members of the public.

Frans Douw recently wrote an opinion piece in this paper dissenting from the party’s line and expressing support for the EU’s Association Agreement with Ukraine. His support was based on the treaty’s symbolic value. I will be voting against the treaty with complete conviction. The facts about Ukraine and the treaty in my view speak for themselves.

The SP is opposed to new European Union rules governing milk and fruit distributed free of charge in schools. The new rules were adopted on Tuesday by the European Parliament following lobbying from the agricultural lobby and represent yet another appropriation by Brussels of what is in reality a national affair, public health. It will furthermore increase the number of rules and the extent of bureaucracy, in a project which is no more than an advertising campaign for the European Union.

European Employment Commissioner Marianne Thyssen today presents her long-awaited plans for amendment of the Posted Workers Directive to combat displacement and exploitation. The SP is not happy with her proposals, as Euro-MP Dennis de Jong explains. "Thyssen proposes that posted workers should have equal rights in relation to social security and pensions, but only after two years," he says. "Even if the employer obeys the law to the letter, this means that for the great majority of posted workers their social security and pensions will be set at levels prevailing in the country from which they have come. As a result they’ll remain as a rule much cheaper than local workers. In my view a posted worker should be getting precisely the same rights as a local after at most six months. Otherwise displacement on the labour market will simply continue."

The Association Agreement between the European Union and Ukraine has as one of its explicit goals the addition in the future of the notorious ISDS (Investor State Dispute Settlement) system of investment protection to the text of the treaty. ISDS would make it possible soon for European corporations to lodge sky-high claims against the Ukrainian state, and for Ukrainian firms to do the same to EU member states. In this way the interests of multinationals would be placed above those of a country’s citizens.

Integration and equal treatment are, in the opinion of SP Member of Parliament Sadet Karabulut, the answer to growing division and radicalisation in the Netherlands. “People from diverse backgrounds are sometimes fearful, they feel themselves to be misunderstood and excluded. It’s time to breathe new life into Article 1 of the Dutch Constitution. Everyone who lives in the Netherlands must be subject to equal treatment, in terms of both rights and duties, without regard to religion, origin, gender, colour of skin or sexual orientation.”

The SP is extremely concerned about developments around the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between the EU and Canada. Negotations on the treaty are now complete, and it remains only for it to be approved. A glance at the contents shows that CETA is in fact the TTIP by the back door. The SP is opposed to both treaties.

SP leader Emile Roemer, along with the party’s Senate group leader Tiny Kox and General Secretary Hans van Heijningen, is visiting the refugee camps in Greece. Despite the massive problems with which Greece is faced, the left Syriza government is doing all it can to organise the decent reception of the refugees. On the third day of their visit, the three spoke with Deputy Minister of Defence Dimitris Vitsas.

The SP doubts that the arbitration system known as Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) is compatible with the European Union treaties, and is seeking therefore an official opinion from the European Court of Justice on the issue. The European Union of Judges recently made a number of sharply critical observations regarding the ISDS, while the German Judges' Council has also published an opinion casting doubt on its compatibility.