On June 24, Wednesday, the Socialist Party (SP) in the Netherlands announced that its legislator has put forth an initiative to stop the advance of unnecessary external hires in government offices in the country. Ronald van Raak, member of the House of Representatives from the SP, formulated this bill in the backdrop of continuous rise in the hiring of expensive external staff such as consultants by government offices in the last eight years. The bill will be introduced in the House after the summer.
The Socialist MP stated that ‘the government is bursting with expensive external consultants, managers and communication employees. Totally unnecessary. Governments must be able to perform tasks themselves and not be dependent on overpaid consultants.”
On June 26, Friday, the party joined the petition #Right2Cure, initiated by European leftist parties, calling on the European Union to ensure free availability of a future COVID-19 vaccine or drug. The petition has been endorsed by parties including PVDA / PTB (Belgium) Die Linke (Germany), Izquierda Unida (Spain), Podemos (Spain), EH Bildu (Basque Country), AKEL (Cyprus), KSCM (Czech Republic), La France Insoumise (France), PCF (France), Sinn Fein (Ireland), Rifondazione Comunista (Italy), Potere al Popolo (Italy), among others.
Regarding the petition, SP leader Lilian Marijnissen, “In order to win against this pandemic, it is vital that a vaccine or medicine is freely accessible to everyone. It is a matter of justice, but it is also crucial to public health.”
