President's Blog
Welcome to my blog! I’m Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, President of the Party of European Socialists. This is where I share my ideas about European politics and tell you what I am doing during the 2009 European elections campaign.
Wanted: an entry strategy into the labour market
Submitted by Poul Nyrup Rasmussen on 27/10/2009 15:21 ( )
Last week, I attended the PES Social Europe Network – a group of prominent PES policy-makers chaired by my colleague and good friend Alejandro Cercas – for a discussion of what I think is one of the most serious and yet most sidelined issues of ... read more
G20: 'It's the jobs, stupid!'
Submitted by Poul Nyrup Rasmussen on 25/09/2009 13:14 ( 2 comments )
After a fruitful meeting with the Americans for Financial Reform, I briefly met Richard Trumka, the newly elected President of AFL CIO - the largest federation of trade unions in North America - and delivered a speech at a meeting with the ITUC. ... read more
President Obama with a clear message
Submitted by Poul Nyrup Rasmussen on 23/09/2009 14:10 ( )
President Barack Obama is still strong and very convincing when he talks. He is sending a clear message as when I saw him during his inauguration in Washington. Yesterday, during Bill Clinton’s global initiative conference, his message was again ... read more
Barroso programme: more business as usual
Submitted by Poul Nyrup Rasmussen on 8/09/2009 15:57 ( )
José Manuel Barroso sent European Parliament political groups his five year programme last week in his bid to be re-elected Commission President for a second term. This is in the run-up to tomorrow’s hearings in the Parliament where he will try ... read more
Steps to renewal
Submitted by Poul Nyrup Rasmussen on 6/07/2009 14:03 ( )
We had a disappointing result in the European elections – but we’re not giving up, with unemployment shooting up we have plenty to fight for. We now face the least progressive European Parliament in its history, with a far more eurosceptic and ... read more
The PES continues to oppose Barroso - and a rushed decision on the Commission President
Submitted by Poul Nyrup Rasmussen on 11/06/2009 9:30 ( )
We said it before the election, and after the election we are saying exactly the same: the PES cannot support a reelection of Barroso. Now more than ever, Europe needs a fundamental change of direction and real crisis management. After the ... read more
European elections: We need more PES, not less PES
Submitted by Poul Nyrup Rasmussen on 8/06/2009 12:34 ( 10 comments )
While we await the final results of the European elections, it is obvious our socialist and social democratic family had a disappointing result. We face a more conservative European Parliament, with a right that is more euro-sceptic and more ... read more
Final call to vote
Submitted by Poul Nyrup Rasmussen on 4/06/2009 9:35 ( 3 comments )
The European elections have now started in the UK and the Netherlands and by Sunday evening will be completed in all 27 EU member countries. The elections are a vote on the policy, direction and leadership of the European Union. It is the Parliament ... read more
You choose - but please don't throw your vote away!
Submitted by Poul Nyrup Rasmussen on 3/06/2009 15:05 ( 1 comment )
By Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, President of the Party of European Socialists You choose – but please don’t throw your vote away!Like it or not, Europe is a part of your government, and Brussels is one of the seats of your democracy. There’s the Town ... read more
Campaigning in Frankfurt with Udo Bullmann
Submitted by Poul Nyrup Rasmussen on 27/05/2009 16:46 ( )
Frankfurt is a city of contrasts. The shining towers that dominate the skyline house a major financial centre, an industry which needs to undergo major reforms if we are to avoid future financial crises. Over recent years, a handful of bankers and ... read more
There's no 'done deal' on Barroso
Submitted by Poul Nyrup Rasmussen on 25/05/2009 17:54 ( 1 comment )
I keep reading in the media that Barroso’s second term as Commission President is a ‘done deal’.I disagree. It’s true that that many Governments are supporting him and so his nomination by the Council for a second term looks likely. But the ... read more
The recession with a human face
Submitted by Poul Nyrup Rasmussen on 22/05/2009 16:25 ( 1 comment )
Few can doubt that the figures on the state of the European economy are grim. GDP in the Eurozone fell by 2.5% between January and March this year. In Germany, Europe’s largest economy, it fell by 3.8%; on an annual basis that is enough to wipe ... read more
A new majority in the European Parliament?
Submitted by Poul Nyrup Rasmussen on 19/05/2009 7:44 ( 1 comment )
A new majority in the European Parliament after the European elections is possible – and necessary. The situation in 2009 is quite different from 2004, and there are many reasons for change: One, the new Parliament will have a much more decisive ... read more
Is Finland just a copy?
Submitted by Poul Nyrup Rasmussen on 16/05/2009 9:12 ( )
I used to admire Finland for its originality, its spark, its way of doing things differently. Finland was the country where people, sitting in their saunas, asked “Is this really the best way of doing things? Maybe we can do better.” They ... read more
Winds of change
Submitted by Poul Nyrup Rasmussen on 16/05/2009 8:34 ( )
We northern Europeans often complain about the blustery, rainy, windy weather that batters our shores, but this climate also offers us great potential to face the economic and environmental storms overhead. That’s because on our very coastlines we ... read more
Trade unions are right to demand a New Social Deal for Europe
Submitted by Poul Nyrup Rasmussen on 15/05/2009 8:49 ( 1 comment )
The Party of European Socialists is planning to have a strong presence at the European Trade Union Confederation ‘Fight the crisis: put the people first’ demonstration in Brussels today. Unfortunately I can’t be there in person but our ... read more
New majority in the Parliament = Barroso will not be President
Submitted by Poul Nyrup Rasmussen on 13/05/2009 11:34 ( 5 comments )
I want to clear up one thing. We want the European Union to take a new direction. We want a European Union that does what is needed to create new jobs and tackle the economic and climate crisis in a decisive way. That is why the PES cannot support ... read more
Europe Day: time to put social justice back at the heart of European politics
Submitted by Poul Nyrup Rasmussen on 9/05/2009 9:58 ( 2 comments )
Today is Europe Day, the annual celebration of European integration.It marks the day in 1950 on which the Schuman Declaration was signed, launching the Coal and Steel Community: the start of what we now call the European Union. The declaration ... read more
Where will we be in 2013?
Submitted by Poul Nyrup Rasmussen on 5/05/2009 20:52 ( 2 comments )
We MEPs are all in Strasbourg this week for the final plenary of the European Parliament before the European elections, and there’s a lot to get through. However busy this week is, there will still be a great stack of issues landing in the in-tray ... read more
An open letter to European trade unions
Submitted by Poul Nyrup Rasmussen on 30/04/2009 19:16 ( 1 comment )
Yesterday I was in Kraków with our friends in the Polish SLD for a conference on the achievements and challenges of Polish membership of the EU. At the same time, at the EPP Congress in Warsaw, thousands of workers from the Gdansk shipyards and ... read more
Enough’s enough
Submitted by Poul Nyrup Rasmussen on 22/04/2009 8:50 ( 1 comment )
The launch of my blog finds me facing an all-too familiar prospect; the failure of the European Commission to respond to the economic crisis. You may already know the story, but here it is if you don’t: in September last year the European ... read more
