Worldlog Tjedan 16 – 2015

Prošli tjedan je bila godišnja “Staat van de Unie” rasprava. U ovoj raspravi Nizozemski zastupnici u saboru i zastupnici u Europskom parlamentu razgovaraju o stanju u Europskoj uniji (EU) sa našim premijerom Mark Rutte. Mi smo još jedanput naglasili kako je važno da se TTIP-pregovori zaustave, a ovaj put nas je u raspravi podržala naša EU-kolegica Anja Hazekamp. Ja sam prije dva tjedna u mom Worldlogu objasnila situaciju oko TTIP.

Sa sporazumima za slobodnu trgovinu kao što je TTIP, Bruxelles demokraciju unutar EU dalje stavlja pod pritisak. Dalje uništavanje demokracija u Europi će biti posljedica obveza nastalih sklapanjem sporazuma slobodne trgovine kao što je TTIP. Građani imaju sve manje i manje glasa. Gdje smo ranije mogli sami odrediti kako da važne vrijednosti kao što su ljudska prava, zaštita okoliša i dobrobit životinja navedemo u našem zakonodavstvu, sada tu moć potpuno stavljamo u ruke Bruxelles. A sa TTIP će mantra “ to ne smije od Bruxellesa” kasnije postati “to ne smije od Washingtona”.

Europski i američki diplomati nove zakonske prijedloge pod TTIP-om već mogu odbiti prije nego se podnesu europskim zemaljama i parlamentima. Nakon što smo neke ovlasti predali Bruxellesu, TTIP sada zapravo stvara značajan prijenos moći Sjedinjenim Američkim Državama (SAD).

Mene ozbiljno zabrinjavaju sporazumi za slobodnu trgovinu sa,na primjer, SAD, zato što Europa tako gubi kontrolu nad klimatskoj politici, kloniranom mesu, genetsko modificiranim biljkama i životinjama, pesticidima i nad svemu što je diskutabilno, ali sa čime se u SAD zarađuje novac.

U Nizozemskoj svake godine oko 50 ljudi umre zbog otpornih gljivica. Sada istraživanje od Radboud UMC (Nizozemska akademska bolnica u Nijmegenu) pokazuje da je ta otpornost gljivica uzrokovana uporabom fungicida u poljoprivredi i vrtlarstvu, ali i u sapunima, sredstvama za dezinfekciju i farbama. U ovim fungicidima obično ima mnogo otrova. Ove vijesti opet pokazuju utjecaj otrova na naše zdravlje.

U izvješću saveznog viječa iz SAD, Amerikancima se savjetuje da jedu manje mesa, jer bi veganska prehrana bila najbolja za našu planetu. Mesna industrija se osjeća ugrožena i čini sve kako bi oborila ovaj savjet.

U četiri nizozemska ministarstava se tokom tri mjeseca svakog ponedeljka jelo manje mesa. Ovaj eksperiment je pokazao da su ministarstva sa svojim Meat Less Mondays u tri mjeseca uštedili milijun litara vode! Zbog velikog uspjeha ministarstva su odlučila neograničeno produžiti akciju Meat Less Mondays. To je tek dobra vijest! Nadam se da će više ministarstava pratiti ovaj primjer.

Dobre vijesti iz Britanije. Naša sestrinska stranka the Animal Welfare Party 7. svibnja učestvuje na nacionalnim izborima. Želim im puno sreće!

Pozdrav, Marianne

Last week, the annual ‘State of the Union’ debate was held. In this debate, Dutch members of the Lower House as well as Euro MPs discuss the state of affairs in the EU with our prime minister, Mark Rutte. This time, strengthened by our EU colleague Anja Hazekamp in the debate, we again stressed how important it is to stop the TTIP negotiations. In my Worldlog of two weeks ago, I already discussed TTIP extensively.

With free trade agreements such as TTIP, Brussels puts democracy under pressure within the EU. Democracy in Europe will be eroded even more due to the obligations that arise by entering into free trade agreements such as TTIP. Citizens have increasingly less to say. Whereas, before, we could determine ourselves how we implemented important values such as human rights, environmental protection and animal welfare in our legislation, we have now turned that over completely to Brussels. And with TTIP, the mantra of “Brussels doesn’t allow that” will later become “Washington doesn’t allow that”.

Under TTIP, European and American diplomats will be able to smash new legislative proposals even before they are presented to European member states and parliaments. After having turned over powers to Brussels, TTIP in fact means a substantial power transfer to the United States.

I am seriously concerned about free trade agreements with e.g. the US, because it means Europe would lose its grip on climate policy, cloned meat, genetically engineered plants and animals, agrotoxics and everything that is controversial, but with which money is made in the US.

In the Netherlands, approximately 50 people die of resistant fungi each year. Research of the Radboud UMC (Netherlands University Medical Centre in Nijmegen) has recently shown that fungi resistance is caused by the use of fungicides in agriculture and horticulture, but also in soap, disinfectants and paint. These fungicides usually contain a lot of toxics. This news again shows the impact toxics have on our health.

In a report of a federal panel from the US, Americans are advised to eat less meat, since a vegan diet would be best for our planet. The meat industry feels threatened and does its best to undercut the advice …

For three months, less meat was eaten on Mondays at four Dutch ministries. The experiment has shown that, with their Meat Less Mondays, the ministries saved a million litres of water in three months! Due to great success, the ministries and caterers have decided to prolong the Meat Less Mondays for an indefinite period of time. Now that’s good news! Hopefully, more ministries will take this good example.

Good news from the United Kingdom. Our sister party the Animal Welfare Party will participate in the national elections on 7 May next. I wish them all the best!

Regards, Marianne