International

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.’

The NGO "Parliamentarians for Global Action" (PGA) interviewed Dutch MP Harry van Bommel about the ratification of the Rome Statute by Armenia. Van Bommel was awarded with the “PGA Member of the month May 2015” title.

The free trade treaty known as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) currently being negotiated between the European Union and the United States represents the next step in the neoliberal project, according to Ewald Engelen, who stated his view during a debate on the treaty in De Moed, the SP’s headquarters in Amersfoort. Engelen was one of around a hundred interested people present.

Nepal has recently been hit by powerful earthquakes which have claimed many thousands of victims. The approaching rainy season will make the risk of landslides so great that people must be rapidly rehoused. Commenting on the situation, SP Member of Parliament Eric Smaling argues that ‘people living in unstable regions in Nepal must be evacuated as quickly as possible to areas where there is less danger. Dutch Development Minister Lilianne  Ploumen must join the government of Nepal and the international community in working hard for this.’ 

From 11th to 14th June the 63rd Bilderberg Conference is to be held in Innsbruck in Austria. This private gathering is attended by the world’s most influential people: heads of government, bankers, industrialists, top scientists and researchers, and editors-in-chief of authoritative media outlets. Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem are amongst those taking part. It is totally wrong that this meeting receives no attention from the media.

Scarcely a day before the scheduled debate on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) between the European Union and the United States, European Parliament president Martin Schulz has removed both the debate and the planned vote to establish the Parliament’s opinion from the agenda of the plenary, sending the report back to the Committee on International Trade, a move agreed by committee chair Bernd Lange. Schulz cited the large number of proposed amendments as the reason for his decision, but the SP’s European Parliament team have their doubts.

8 June 2015 At today’s press conference in Ankara, the international observers’ team from the Council of Europe and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) presented its initial findings regarding Sunday’s parliamentary elections.

In the absence of a political solution, the military mission in Iraq is doomed to fail, according to SP Member of Parliament Jasper van Dijk in response to what he observed on his two-day visit to the Dutch armed forces in Iraq and Jordan. ‘The Netherlands’ efforts offer no solution to the enormous problems in Iraq,’ he insists. ‘This must first and foremost address the structural exclusion of Sunnis from political power. As long as Sunnis don’t have the full influence they should enjoy, military deployment is pointless. Furthermore, the western military presence increases the chances of renewed violence against Europe and the United States.’