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16 March 2022

Russia expelled from Council of Europe

Foto: SP

The Council of Europe, the continent’s main institution governing human rights, voted to expel Russia as a member. The reason for the decision is Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. 

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14 March 2022

Housing is a right. Investors like Blackstone en Co to be kept out

It was a rather small news item. Investor Blackstone let at least 330 houses in Amsterdam stand empty. All this while we are facing a deep housing crisis and many people cannot find a suitable and affordable home. Blackstone claims that it wants to renovate the houses. That may sound noble but it is not the whole story. The investor is renovating houses in order to rent them out at much higher prices. In the Amsterdam West-Indische quarter, for example, rents went up from €500 to €2500 per month. Houses are a profit model for investors like Blackstone and co. Home seekers are the losers. And so is society as a whole. Blackstone has a trick up its sleeve to avoid paying any profit tax in the Netherlands. Housing prices are pushed up by investors, deepening the housing crisis. A new study by SOMO, commissioned by the SP, shows that Blackstone has no added value. High time to ban Blackstone en co.

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8 March 2022

Socialist Party’s success: Parliament wants to get rid of generous gifts for house purchases

Foto: SP

A swift removal of the tax scheme that allows wealthy people to donate a ton of money tax-free, would not be possible, according to Minister of Finance Kaag’s initial reaction. This proved to be untrue when the SP persisted and the Minister’s own civil servants indicated that a substantial reduction of this perverse tax concession is possible. And so, the SP proposal to significantly reduce the bonus as early as next year received support from Parliament this week. In 2023, the sum over which no gift tax is to be paid will be reduced from EUR 106,671 to EUR 27,231. In 2024, the scheme will disappear completely.

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5 March 2022

Stop the war: Over 2000 people stand up

Foto: SP

On saturday a demonstration organized by the Dutch Socialist Party (SP) and the Party for the Animals (PvdD) attracted over 2000 people. On the Malieveld, there were speakers and Ukrainian folk music was played. After the demonstration, participants made a large peace sign, to support the appeal 'Stop the War'.

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24 February 2022

Russian attack on Ukraine utterly unacceptable

Foto: SP

Russia's military attack on Ukraine is utterly unacceptable. As well as attacks in eastern Ukraine in the Donbas region, Putin has also launched attacks on other cities, including capital Kiev. Reports of casualties and refugees are intensifying.

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10 February 2022

Alkaya: Rutte 4 must use wealth tax to invest in our elderly, students and healthcare

Foto: SP

The new cabinet is spending tens of billions of euros in an arbitrary fashion, but is completely losing sight of the people. This is how SP MP Mahir Alkaya describes the coalition agreement of Rutte 4. 'They spend billions of which it is totally unclear what effect they will have. But everyone is worse off. Students in the failed debt relief experiment are fobbed off with a tip as compensation and youth care and care for the elderly are being cut back drastically.'

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10 February 2022

SP calls minister to account for failure to ban gambling advertisements

Foto: SP

Since the new online gambling market opened in October last year, gambling advertisements have been flooding the TV, radio and Internet. Not only people who have gambled before, but also people who have never gambled before are tempted to gamble. Apart from the fact that these gambling adverts are very irritating and misleading, it is certainly not the intention that more people start gambling. In today’s special debate (a so-called interpellation debate), SP Member of Parliament Michiel van Nispen will call the Minister for Legal Protection to account. Van Nispen will ask the Minister why he refuses to implement a previously adopted SP parliamentary motion to prohibit targeted gambling advertisements. 'This is an insult to the House, which is why I want to have this special debate today with the Minister and will demand that he carries out this motion.'

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3 February 2022

Parliamentary inquiry into benefits scandal to start

Foto: SP

The parliamentary inquiry committee that is to investigate the benefits scandal is about to start. SP leader Lilian Marijnissen submitted the motion to set up this inquiry. Renske Leijten, MP for the SP, played a significant role in the revelations of recent years which caused the previous cabinet to resign. 

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2 February 2022

Opposition parties introduce bill for fair wealth tax

Foto: SP

This week the PvdA, GroenLinks and SP announced a bill to introduce a fair wealth tax. The parties want to reduce the inequality in the Netherlands and demand that the largest wealth groups make a fair contribution to our collective provisions. 

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