International

The SP Senate group today elected Rik Janssen as its new group chairman. Janssen has been a member of the Senate for the SP since 2019. Before that he worked as a deputy in the province of South Holland on behalf of the SP from 2011 to 2019. In 2011 he was a member of the Lower House, where he had been a staff member since 2007. 

Today in Strasbourg, SP Senator Tiny Kox was elected as the new President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. He will succeed the Liberal Belgian Senator Rik Daems, who had completed his two-year term. After former Minister Hans de Koster (VVD) and former Secretary of State and President of the Senate René van der Linden (CDA), Kox is the third Dutchman in this position for the European Treaty Organisation, founded in 1949. At present, there are 47 Member States participating in this organisation. These include all EU Member States and major European countries such as Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and Great Britain.

Russian-Ukrainian border tensions have led to negotiations on disarmament and conflict resolution. Now is the time to make a virtue of necessity and establish firm agreements to prevent war.

Last week they were on the steps of the King’s palace, glowing with pride, the members of the 4th Rutte government cabinet. At the same time tens of thousands of people were in long queues in the cold city of Groningen. They were waiting for a chance to get some money to ease the misery of the impact of the earthquakes caused by gas extraction. The money available was sufficient for only half of the people. A matter of first come, first served. This was humiliating for the queueing people. It was shameful for our country. It was destructive to faith in government.

The new Dutch government coalition agreement contains the promise of an active commitment to 'a world free of nuclear weapons'. How is the new Minister of Foreign Affairs going to do that? In the summer of 2022, the first four JSF aircraft will arrive at Volkel Air Base. The intention is that these fighter jets will be equipped with modernised nuclear bombs in the near future. This is a consequence of the NATO membership ('nuclear sharing'). It means that the Dutch air force is ready to deploy American nuclear weapons. In fact, the Netherlands is a nuclear weapon country.

A majority in the Lower House adopted the SP motion to ban gambling advertisements. SP MP Michiel van Nispen is delighted: ‘This is very good news. It is getting out of hand. Those advertisements have been everywhere since the market opened. And this is not something innocent. Persuading large groups of people to gamble online can lead to social misery. Therefore, we really need to stop these irritating and misleading advertisements. I am glad that the Lower House has forced the Minister to do so’. 

The new cabinet is not going to solve people's problems. The fourth Rutte cabinet is an unreliable new start of the third Rutte cabinet. They are exactly the same parties, the same ideas and the same persons. How are they to provide solutions to the problems they caused themselves? They are unlikely to solve the benefits scandal, the housing shortage or the health care crisis.

SP Senator Tiny Kox hopes to be elected president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in January in Strasbourg. The Netherlands had this post only twice since 1949. Never has a politician on the left of social democracy in Europe been given such a prominent position. Kox is currently chairman of the parliamentary SP party in the Dutch Upper House.

The SP supports European Citizens' Initiative 'No Profit on the Pandemic' for the free availability of vaccines and treatments against COVID-19. The petition campaign is a unique cooperation between more than 350 social organisations and left-wing parties from all over Europe.