International

This coming September 10th is the closing date for possible claims for damages from surviving relations of the Indonesians summarily executed by Dutch soldiers during so-called Policing Actions between 1946 and 1949. The Netherlands introduced this rule on 10th  September 2013 after the Committee on Dutch Debts of Honour, aided by Liesbeth Zegveld, lawyer for the widows of South Sulawesi, had succeeded in forcing the payment of compensation.

The Netherlands is a tax haven. Not for ordinary men and women, but for multi-national corporations (MNCs) who set up post-box firms in order to evade taxes. One of these corporations is Canadian concern Eldorado Gold, which is guilty of human rights abuses and causing serious environmental damage in Greece. The Foundation for Research into Multi-National Corporations (known by its Dutch-language acronym, SOMO), recently published a report on the matter. The SP monthly magazine Spanning spoke to Indra Römgens, one of the report’s authors.

In the last few months the question has often been posed: should Greece quit the euro? My answer is always the same: the Greeks will decide that for themselves.

This week Belgian trade unions demonstrated against social dumping - right in front of the European Parliament. The SP’s European team, including MEPs Dennis de Jong and Anne-Marie Mineur joined the action along with representatives of the Dutch trade union federations the FNV and CNV.

The SP is urging European Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström to make a serious effort to bring transparency to the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership between the United States and the European Union. The US Congress yesterday opted for the so-called Fast Track procedure, which removes direct democratic control over the Transpacific Trade Partnership, the treaty being negotiated with a number of countries which lie within or border the Pacific Ocean, including Japan, Australia and Mexico. It is feared that these negotiations will simply continue to take place behind closed doors.

SP Member of Parliament Harry van Bommel won the support of his fellow MPs when they voted in favour of a resolution calling on the Minister of Foreign Affairs to demand the release of prisoners of conscience in Azerbaijan. ‘In the runup to the European Games which began recently in the country, critics of the government have been dealt with extremely harshly,’ says Van Bommel. ‘Dozens of them have been arrested and locked up to prevent them from expressing their opinions. It’s completely unacceptable that there are prisoners of conscience in Azerbaijan ao I’m pleased that Parliament has supported my call for their release. It’s important that we show solidarity with the victims of this repression.’

SP Member of Parliament Michiel van Nispen took part on Friday in the protest action ‘Run for Leyla’, organised by Amnesty International around the Azerbaijan in The Hague.

On 17th June SP Euro-MP Dennis de Jong, together with corruption watchdog Transparency International, hosted a meeting in the European Parliament with – and about – whistle-blowers. Protecting whistle-blowers deserves at this time to be given a great deal of attention, given that the European Parliament yesterday voted in favour of an EU Directive on protection of company secrets. The measure in question will make it that much harder to make abuses within corporations public.

Last week the alarming situation in Calais was much in the news. Tensions between truck drivers and migrants trying to get to England as stowaways intensify by the day. SP Euro-MP Dennis de Jong is pulling out all the stops: France, Belgium and the Netherlands must together ensure, in the short term, the safety of the drivers. The European Commission can help, including financially. ‘I have contact with all of those involved and expect the situation to improve rapidly. In the end, however, the cause of the problem will have to be addressed. What that means is that the failed European asylum policy must be revised.’