International

The party council of the SP has elected Lilian Marijnissen as their leading candidate for the upcoming Lower House elections. The party is pleased that Lilian wants to be our leader. Her enthusiasm and commitment are amazing and she knows what she is talking about. The Netherlands needs new, honest politics to rebuild the country and we are proud that Lilian will lead the way.

The Senate adopted a proposal by the SP to keep to the target of at least halving child poverty in the Netherlands by 2025. Actions should be taken to reduce child poverty as much as possible towards this target next year. The proposal was widely supported, only the PVV voted against it.

The Rutte 4 government has resigned. This is good news for the Netherlands! This cabinet has created more problems than it has solved. It is time for a new, honest government that will deal with high costs, housing shortages and health care deficits. We are ready for new elections. And that is where we need you.

The SP manifesto for the European elections, May 23rd 2019

As Parliament returned from recess this week, SP leader Lilian Marijnissen marked the occasion with a speech to the think-tank The Machiavelli Foundation, based like the national legislature in The Hague. People, she said, want a coherent account of what is going on “in our country”. And quite rightly.

On Wednesday the European Ombudsman ruled in favour of SP Euro-MP Dennis de Jong's request for access to the EU Council's legal advice in relation to a transparency register. Explaining his request, De Jong said: “As long as three years ago I lodged a request with the Council for access to the full advice given by the Legal Services on the question of possible participation by the Council in the transparency register. The Council has repeatedly refused to grant this, but not only did the Ombudsman rule in my favour on every point, but has also ensured that the Council has given me access to the advice, uncensored. The ruling confirms that documents in the framework of an inter-institutional agreement between Council, Commission and Parliament are comparable to legislative documents. Earlier this year the European Court of Justice ruled that important documents must be publicly available, which will at last give member states' citizens more of an insight into how decisions are taken in Brussels and means that governments can no longer hide behind a veil of secrecy.”

“The future is not for predatory capitalism, but for the people. The future doesn't belong to the market, but to us. Together we will fight for a world where it isn't the interests of the few which count, but those of us all.” This was the theme of Lilian Marijnissen's speech to the SP Congress, her first since she became the party's leader late last year.