Worldlog week 25 – 2014
According to De Telegraaf, a Dutch newspaper, the first “World Cup riot” occurred last Thursday. In the corridors of the Lower House, a journalist of De Telegraaf asked me for my comments on what has been termed an “orange” tortoise with predictive abilities on the Dutch embassy in Brazil. De Telegraaf then proceeded to report I had demanded the release of the animal, which was not the case.
During the World Cup madness, all kinds of things are being invented and some people feel a need to involve animals in this. We are used to the fact that our party sometimes meets with a lack of understanding. After all, we are a unique party and apparently that results in unique reporting. We know that these reports relate to our role of the pacer in the marathon, which in this case apparently led to a tortoise riot.
In Brussels, we will join the Nordic Green Left (NGL) group / party. Holding on to your ideals is only possible in a European group without party discipline, which applies to NGL. In addition to our party, the German Tierschutzpartei will also join NGL. I wish our party chairman Anja Hazekamp all the best!
The European parliament “forces” parties to join a group of parties (a European party) so as to receive specific budgets and speaking time that way and to be able to make proposals in Parliament. None of the parties are ideal for the Party for the Animals, but if you continue to be “independent”, you will hardly ever receive a chance to place items on the agenda, make proposals or carry out advertisement campaigns to bring to the attention abuses related to, inter alia, animals, nature and the environment (for lack of budget).
The Party for the Animals represents the transcendent importance of compassion, sustainability, personal freedom and personal responsibility, irrespective of the traditional left/right opposition. Particularly for that reason, the party attaches great value to being able to make its own decisions in its voting behaviour, without curtailing party discipline.
Nordic Green Left is the only group where we will be completely free to vote what we want and where we will also be able to make green proposals. In this group, we will be able to hold on to our ideals and adopt a driver’s role with regard to animals, nature, climate and the environment.
Within Nordic Green Left group, our Party for the Animals will be supported in all possible ways in spreading our unique message.
Nordic Green Left cooperates with the GUE group. The Party for the Animals is in Nordic Green Left, not GUE, which has parties with a communistic orientation. We do not see it as a problem that Nordic Green Left cooperates with GUE, as we are separate from them politically. As the only European group, Nordic Green Left enables all of its member parties to continue holding on to their own ideals and political identities.
All European groups have parties that are not natural parties for the Party for the Animals. There is only one group that enables maintaining our own position without being obliged to vote along with parties that are further from our ideals and that is Nordic Green Left.
What are we going to do in NGL: We requested NGL to assign the spokesmanship for the agriculture committee to us and that request has been granted. Anja will get the opportunity to set up a committee that will examine animal welfare and animal rights issues.
Within this group, and also towards other groups, Anja would like to adopt a driver’s role with regard to animals, nature, climate and the environment. We will also place on the agenda the European focus on economic growth as a solution, as well as our green euro criticism.
See you next week! Marianne