International

European Commissioner for Transport Violeta Bulc today addressed a cross-party group of MEPs, headed by the SP’s Dennis de Jong, on the subject of her plans to tackle exploitation and displacement of truck drivers, raising high expectations. ´Bulc looked positively at our proposals for tightening EU legislation on cabotage and against the use of mailbox companies,’ says De Jong. ‘In addition, she wants to strengthen cooperation between inspection services in Europe by giving one of the existing EU Agencies new responsibilities. She’s looking to make possible a solution to the problem of enforcement of the minimum wage as well as addressing the issue of cabotage trips, without imposing unnecessary administrative formalities. Her commitments create confidence, but obviously what count in the end are her concrete actions.’

The new European Commission wants to change completely the way things are done. Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker and Dutch Commissioner Frans Timmermans are at one in their view that many EU member states’ citizens have had enough of Brussels’ passion for interference, and national parliaments must be hampered as little as possible. Or so we’re told.

On Tuesday Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the United States Congress. He had only one message: ‘Stop Obama from signing a nuclear agreement with Iran!' He said that in his opinion the struggle against  Iran is much more important than the struggle against ISIS.

Trade Minister Lilianne Ploumen today joined five EU member state colleagues in launching a plan for an international court to settle trade disputes. In doing so Ploumen is at last recognising the dangers presented by the Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS), a clause in trade agreements which allows corporations to bring legal actions against states. But in the SP’s assessment the government’s plan is insufficient to counter the damaging effects of the free trade agreements with the US and Canada, respectively the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Pact (TTIP) and the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA).

The coalition government, which includes the Labour Party (PvdA), is going ahead with the purchase of eight Joint Strike Fighters. The JSF is a fighter-bomber the acquisition of which was opposed unequivocally by Labour during the last parliamentary election, yet that position has now been reversed. As SP Member of Parliament and defence spokesman SP Jasper van Dijk concluded after last week’s parliamentary debate on the matter, ‘The PvdA is even more manoeuvrable than the JSF.’

On Tuesday the European Commission published its plan for an energy union. The Commission wants more say in energy policy, which is at present in the hands of the member states. That’s how it must stay, in the opinion of the SP. It would be positive were member states to link their grids, but each country must be able to determine for itself how they generate energy.

The Court of Justice in The Hague last week ruled that the European Patents Organisation (EPO) is in conflict with important European fundamental rights, such as the right to strike. Security and Justice Minister Ivo Opstelten is, however, refusing to give effect to the judgment, on the grounds that the EPO – not an EU institution, but one with thirty-eight member states, including all EU countries - is an independent organisation and therefore enjoys immunity. SP Member of Parliament Michiel van Nispen finds this reasoning absurd, he says. ‘The minister is thus approving the silencing of trade unions and the fact that workers can’t in the end enforce their rights,’ he points out. ‘Independent organisations should not be hampered in their functioning, but that doesn’t mean that they have carte blanche to transgress human rights and ignore judicial rulings.’

SP Member of Parliament Ronald van Raak wants clarification from the government regarding British and American security services’ hacking of Dutch SIM cards, which enables them to steal the cards’ encryption codes and eavesdrop on phone calls. Now that the US and UK intelligence services have got their hands on the encryption codes of major telephone service providers KPN, Vodafone and T-Mobile, they can eavesdrop on people – including Members of Parliament - without any interference from the companies involved.

On Tuesday 24th February a vote will be taken in the European Parliament Environment Committee on the EU’s rules governing biofuels. Tighter regulation is badly needed, because biofuels are a great deal less sustainable than is commonly thought. For their production you need agricultural land, which is necessary to provide sufficient food to feed us all. This explains why the SP voted in favour of tightening the rules.