03/09/2009
Socialists step up engagement for new global deal
European Socialists are stepping up their engagement with US and Japanese Democrats – and with other progressive political parties, trade unions and NGOs outside Europe – by giving a big boost to the Global Progressive Forum.
Actions taken to boost the Global Progressive Forum, agreed yesterday at a joint meeting of the Presidency of the PES and the Bureau of the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament, include
• Appointment of Javier Moreno, former MEP and Chair of PSOE Abroad (the Spanish Socialist party’s organization for Spaniards living abroad), as the GPF’s first Secretary General
• Appointment of PES President Poul Nyrup Rasmussen and Parliamentary Group President Martin Schulz as co-Chairs of the GPF
• Agreement to mobilize for the creation of a campaign ‘Europeans for Financial Reform’ to work alongside the campaigning coalition ‘Americans for Financial Reform’ http://ourfinancialsecurity.org/ with a first announcement on 21 September.
Javier Moreno commented “Europe may be in conservative hands today, but there is a progressive tide sweeping the US, Australia, Japan and Latin America. We European socialists will engage even more actively in building progressive alliances and making better global politics. The victory of the Japanese Democrats, just a few months after the inauguration of a Democrat President in the US, gives us the best opportunity for many years for a New Global Deal. We don’t want to miss that opportunity.”
The Global Progressive Forum launched its call for a New Global Deal in April at a conference in the European Parliament attended by other 2,000 people that was opened by Bill Clinton and included Pascal Lamy, Howard Dean, António Guterres, Juan Somavia, Salima Ghezali, Susan George, Taslima Nasreen, Aminata Traore and Chico Whitaker amongst others. See http://www.globalprogressiveforum.org/news-and-press/news-gpf-brussels-2009
The Global Progressive Forum is supported by the PES, the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament, and the Foundation for European Progressive Studies as well as the Socialist International.
