Continuons par une moins bonne nouvelle : les européens n’assurent pas le renouvellement des générations. En effet, il faudrait une moyenne supérieure à 2 enfants par femme pour que cela soit le cas et nous en sommes loin. Avec des taux de fécondité de seulement 1,25 en Espagne, en Italie, en République Tchèque et en Pologne, la situation est parfois très inquiétante.

Le vieillissement de la population européenne aura dans les prochaines années des conséquences économiques et sociales très lourdes. Une pénurie de main d’œuvre et de matière grise qui fragilisera la croissance économique. L’augmentation du coût des soins médicaux et des retraites et les inégalités qui en découleront.

Face à ce défi démographique, l’Europe doit remettre en question sa politique en matière de migrations car elle fait fausse route. La construction de l’espace Schengen a conduit à l’édification de barrières juridiques ou matérielles qui équivalent à fermer nos territoires à la majorité de la population mondiale. La directive de la honte votée le mois dernier va encore plus loin dans cette direction.

Par 369 voix pour, 197 contre et 106 abstentions, le Parlement européen a adopté, mercredi 18 juin 2008, la directive sur le « retour des immigrés illégaux ». Ce texte qui a été massivement soutenu par les conservateurs prévoit : une durée de rétention excessivement longue, la détention d'enfants en centres fermés, l’absence d'obligation pour les Etats d'organiser une assistance juridique gratuite, la possibilité d'expulser des personnes gravement malades, des interdictions de séjour sur le territoire européen de 5 ans.

Cette politique est une catastrophe humanitaire, n’oublions jamais que des hommes et des femmes meurent tous les jours au pied de la forteresse que nous avons construits. Or, disons le clairement, c’est un mensonge qui fonde cette politique : l’idée que l’immigrant menace notre sécurité, nos emplois et même nos identités. Les medias relayant cette représentation renforcent cette peur irrationnelle. La réalité est bien différente. Les pays européens qui ont la croissance économique la plus rapide sont ceux où le solde migratoire positif est le plus élevé comme l’Irlande ou l’Espagne.

Nous devons combattre cette politique de fermeture des frontières et promouvoir à tous les niveaux des politiques d’accueil de nouvelles populations. De nombreux élus locaux ont engagés leurs territoires dans cette direction en Suède, en Espagne ou ailleurs mais à l’échelle nationale et européenne les décisions en matière d’immigration restent trop souvent marquées par une démagogie xénophobe.

L’enjeu est de passer de la perception du migrant comme une menace à celle du migrant comme une chance pour nos sociétés. "Le courage c’est de chercher la vérité et de la dire" comme le disait Jean Jaurès. Alors assumons cette vérité. Les migrants ne menacent pas nos emplois, ils viennent contribuer à garantir nos retraites et à pérenniser nos politiques sociales.

Il faut aller jusqu’à la remise en cause de la catégorie légaux/illégaux qui par nature est factice car ce sont les Etats qui décident de considérer ou pas tel ou tel migrant comme "légal". Les migrants sont des êtres humains, à ce titre nous devons leur reconnaître des droits et la possibilité de s’installer dans une Europe qui a aujourd’hui besoin d’eux.

Il s’agit enfin de considérer que ce qui fonde notre union ce n’est pas l’héritage du passé mais notre avenir commun. Cet avenir nous le voulons ouvert sur le monde. Chacun peut y avoir sa place. C’est un vrai et beau combat politique et culturel. De ceux qui donnent du sens à l’existence même d’un parti socialiste européen.

We should spread our voice. Improve cooperation between European and national Socialist parties is the solution. We want to build a New Social Europe based on the equity of opportunities and solidarity but to achieve it we need your help and support.

It is important to defend women rights. Being a woman should not be an obstacle. Women are intelligent, talented… Women have innovative ideas. We, women, have the support of the socialist leaders and politics. Socialists have the challenge to create a New Social Europe. They engage themselves to think and find solutions for people’s real problems. That’s why the manifesto2009 is being prepared.µ

We have the resources, the organization, people and our essential strengths: our values!

During the past months, we collected support for our proposals among activists, being constantly present in PES events. At the same time, we made efforts to introduce our contribution to PES leaders and to members of the European Parliament. To this day, more than 40 MEPs publicly support Rainbow Rose’s contribution.

Among our concerns, along with the promotion and the monitoring of Human LGBT Rights all over the Union and in the world, come some very concrete actions that are fundamental to the Union’s policies and principles. To mention a very relevant point, Rainbow Rose asks the PES to ensure the full achievement of the freedom of movement for all, without discrimination.

This means applying the principle of mutual recognition to all families, union and parenthood links legally recognized in one Member State, including LGBT families. This is what the European Union can do for millions of citizens, and to help.

You can read the full contribution here.

In Romania around 40% of the population lives in rural areas and in countries like Poland or Bulgaria the percentage is similar.

PES activists Romania organised an internal debate on this and we have identified some of their problems:

- difficulties regarding the access to high level education

- exclusion from technological evolution

- development problems / sanitary access

- lack of jobs (others than in agriculture)

But there is more. The rural areas tend to be ignored by Europe and due to that people is abandoning those zones.

Should we do something against this and support those living there? I think we should. What about you ?

This has several consequences but the most important ones are that our companies can’t invest so they can’t become more competitive and that our products become more expensive abroad Europe so our companies become even less competitive.

If we add to all that the fact that oil is having peak prices almost everyday so everything is becoming more expensive for them, the result is easy to see: they are trapped.

In order to face this situation “the European Central Bank should ask itself not only about inflation but also about economic growth”, Mr. Sarkozy said. “You can double interest rates and that will not make go down the price of the Brent barrel”.

This is a position held by Sarko. I wrote about it yesterday in my blog. And then I wondered…

What’s our political response to the economy crisis?

Check them here with Conny Reuter, Secretary General of Solidar.

Workers migration

East: for countries from this side of Europe the freedom of movement is what Europe is all about. The people who migrate from our countries do so to build themselves a better live but also to help there families back home.

West: unfortunately the Eastern European migrants are presented as a problem and we as socialists have trouble fighting this point of view

Solution: building up a common point of view regarding migration- informing our national communities regarding the other European communities migrating and explaining the good effects that this brings on the economy

Economic delocalization

East: most of the Eastern European countries are in need of foreign investments to develop the national economy and to all that is needed to attract delocalized activities

West: the delocalization is badly lived by many of the Western European countries and sometimes Eastern countries are criticized for attracting those companies

Solution:- improve our common workers rights system so all over Europe companies respect a common set of values- promoting the European minimum wage- explaining that a company that stays in Europe is still good for the economy- fighting against the imports that come for countries that are not respecting the workers rights and the basic set of production rules

Taxes

East: more and more Eastern countries have decided to apply a unique tax system which is sometimes very low

West: this is appealing for the Western companies attracted by easy win – the countries are having trouble in keeping their current taxes system because it supplies its social system

Solution:- informing the European citizens on the need of a social system and explaining that this come from taxes that normally should generate wealth redistribution- applying a common European tax system

Enlargement

East: most of the Eastern countries are supporting the enlargement process of the European Union

West: more and more Western countries desire to stop this process for the moment

Solution:- understanding that the enlargement process is basically what pushes non-EU countries in developing their democracies and economical systems- the enlargement process has to be seen as a strict set of rules that the candidate countries have to accomplish not as a subjective process.

Eastern and Western societies are divided today by a different identity perspective. Eastern countries are feeling the need in catching up the Western European countries and they are willing to reach that goal. They know what lack of freedom or choice means, having lived for 50 years in a strict communist regime.

The Western Europeans are facing economical problems and feeling the need of closing themselves because it has been created the image that this situation is due to their openness. The reality is that Europe can only be one and if we want to put an end to this division we have to start listening to each other and start building together a stronger Europe.

We have to remember the fact that in just a few years 12 new countries have integrated the European Union and this process has to be done also on the society level. People have to learn more about each other, understand and inform themselves and travel to see each others culture and identity. This is a process that is due to last and if we want to push things forward we have to work into building a common social and political Europe where everybody is listened.

De quoi s'agit-il exactement ?

On sait que les forces de police sont coordonnées au niveau européen par EUROPOL pour ce qui concerne les questions liées aux trafics en tout genre, le terrorisme. Bien que cette institution naissante aurait besoin de moyens pour fonctionner efficacement, elle a le mérite d'exister.

Ce que propose nos camarades belges, c'est que dans le domaine social, une sorte d'inspection européenne du Travail soit mise en place et que celle-ci puisse contrôler le respect au sein des Etats-membres des droits sociaux dans le but d'éviter le dumping social.

Dans de nombreuses contributions, revient également l'idée d'une harmonisation vers le haut des droits sociaux. Parfois avec des variations comme celle sur l'imposition d'un salaire minimum européen. Le SP.a ne précise pas comment il l'imagine son application quand la Fédération de Paris indique qu'il doit être calculé en fonction de l'échelle nationale des salaires.

Très intéressante également la proposition "d'introduire le principe d'une variation des cotisations sociales en fonction de la qualité du contrat de travail : taxer plus fortement les contrats précaires."

On the personal level I will argue for publicly funded higher education. If we start charging tuition fees, we will, in my view, consolidate the fact that children of particular socioeconomic backgrounds do not go to university: the class gap will be so big that it’s impossible to jump across! Further, we have, in Denmark, been discussing the so-called ‘knowledge economy’ for years and there’s a lot of focus on getting more young people to take a university degree. Tuition fees will, as I see it, be a significant barrier to achieving this goal.

At the same time one should also keep in mind that, at the end of the day and in spite of all the talk of 'free higher education', university education do cost money – professors and teachers need to be paid, buildings have to be heated and renovated and students need counseling and support. Funding is a necessity, especially if universities are to become more and more international. Hence, if we are to avoid tuition fees governments - and maybe even the EU - need to be willing to (continue to) subsidy.

Let me finish off this rather long post by making a proposal for the PES manifesto: I think the manifesto should mention universities and higher education. In its initiatives the European Commission often seems to favour fees – and in my view Europe’s socialist party needs to have a stand-point on this. How do social democrats, in the light of globalization, envision European education and its funding in the future?

Comments are welcome - shoot! :-)

A public debate has opened up again about the new way to govern Europe. Three countries held a referendum on the old treaty for a European constitution; and while it was approved in Spain, it was turned down both in Holland and France. The new Treaty of Lisbon is not being ratified via referendums but is subject to the approval by the different Parliaments of the member States. One exception should be noted: Ireland.

Ireland was the only country where a referendum was called, and its citizens decided to reject the Treaty. Maybe Irish voters did not take into consideration all the benefits that they have obtained from Europe, which have made their remarkable development possible. But what is happening in such Europhile countries as France and Holland for them to turn their back on building this new European Union?

Many citizens are having opposing feelings about how to build that Europe. On the one hand, they receive positive messages (equality of 400 million Europeans, subsidies for the least favored regions, tutelage of democratic processes, investments on education, international cooperation, removing borders, etc). But on the other hand, more and more people does not find it convincing enough, in the light of other factors: the Bolkestein guidelines about the privatization of public services, for example, which has caused a considerable damage to the way the European Union is considered by its citizens. The key word is competition, without stressing the importance of social benefits; there is very little interest to regulate the speculation that is derived from the global economy; illegal immigrants can now be detained for up to eighteen months… And now the 65 hours working week.

These neo-liberal policies are generating Euroskepticism, specially in center-left wing people. It may also seem that European governments use Europe as an excuse to introduce unpopular bills that they would otherwise be unable to present to their electorate. The latest referendums are making it very clear that Europe cannot be built behind the citizens’ backs. The EU now have complete authority on a wide range of daily life issues, and need a more democratic administration. We, the citizens, have the right to compare different ways to build Europe, and this is only possible with strong European parties, with their own ideology and initiatives, and interests that are shared by all Europeans. The PES is, no doubt about it, on the right track.

The reaction in Spain: this is a clear attack to the Social Europe we are trying to achieve and we are not going to assume it easily.

Today in Europe, the maximum work journey is set at 48 hours per week. It was set this way by the International Labour Organisation in 1917. According to Lourdes Muñoz a recognised socialist blogger in Spain:

This Directive will eliminate the right to rest during the continued working journeys, it attempts against the safety and health at the work place and difficult the conciliation of personal and working life.

The promoters of this initiative affirm that this Directive will implement the freedom to individually negotiate the length of our own working journey but as we all know theory is theory and there will be no negotiation. Individualisation of the working relations will break balance.

Fighting in favour of this balance implies us all. In Spain, Cesar Calderón, a Spanish activist, has started a campaign called “65 hours? In your dreams.”

Don’t keep quiet. Join us!

The European Federation of Public Services Unions (EPSU) welcomes PES initiatives striving for better public services such as the call for a specific horizontal framework that should set out concrete quality standards and criteria. This horizontal legal framework, based on the public services protocol annexed to the Lisbon Treaty, could serve as a departure point for sectoral initiatives and could be an opportunity to give more scope for the inclusion of social and environmental criteria in public procurement contracts and in productivity indicators, to raise good administration, transparency, democratic control, to promote more gender equality and to guarantee equal access to public services.

Concerning employment, a “quality work” has to be preferred to a “flexisecurity approach”. In this respect, EPSU advocates fair working conditions, full rights and representation including better collective bargaining rights. There is also the need to do more in order to improve gender equality and to promote life-long learning especially in the hospital sector. Achieving an inclusive society where “no one is left behind” means to address the needs of those at risk of discrimination such as immigrants. Quality public services, namely good social services, healthcare services or immigration services could be the motor of a good integration.

Read the full contribution here.

Everyone is talking about the „New Social Europe“these days: it is one of the most important issues of the upcoming European elections, not only for European but also for German social democrats. On June 9 SPD chairman and manifesto2009 theme group leader Kurt Beck hosted an expert conference in Berlin. Together with Poul Nyrup Rasmussen (President of the PES), Walter Veltrony (chairman of the Democratic Party of Italy), Michael Sommer (head of the Confederation of German Trade Unions) and many others he discussed the challenges and future duties for the national states and the European Union in order to devise a European economic and social model for a globalized world. 

SPD chairman declared the social Europe to be the central social-democratic future project for the European Union in the 21st century: “After the creation of the Single European Market, a common currency and the peaceful unification of the continent through enlargement, the work on a new social Europe must be the great integration project of the forthcoming years.”

In contrast to the European conservatives and the liberals, who are focusing solely on the liberalization of the market, social democrats also want to frame the forces of the market with common social and ecologic standards. Kurt Beck emphasized: “We want to translate the success of social market economy to the level of the European Union and to anchor it there as a guiding principle.”

Poul Nyrup Rasmussen held a passionate speech, highlighting that it would not be possible to construct the new social Europe without talking about financial markets. Social market economy does not mean a market society. We need transparency to ensure financial stability and workers rights, minimum reporting standards and information disclosure. We must set up limits of leverage to lower the risk of default and not undermine firms. Effective taxation for funds managers must be assured: they should pay taxes as workers do! Finally, transparent rules of conduct for the CEO’s of companies and managers of funds are also necessary.

For the next European elections, participants agreed that people need to have a clear political choice. Therefore it is crucial to identify advocates and adversaries of a social Europe. Unlike for the EPP there is a unifying element of all European social democrats: the interest in a social Europe!

Click here to access Beck’s speech in German and here to find out more about President Rasmussen’s work on financial markets.

Click here to read EPHA' contribution for the manifesto2009.

The European social model needs to be renovated but its bases must be preserved. While we debate the reform of the European social model, we need to also debate the reform of globalisation. This includes, for example, the need for national and international redistribution and the need to stop the race to the bottom, both in taxes (so that states can afford good education and welfare for everyone) by initiating an international tax-cooperation, and in social standards by starting international cooperation to raise them.

We need concrete measures to ensure globalisation is politically controlled, such as a single EU representation in international financial institutions, the establishment of a UN Economic Security Council, and an efficient control over tax havens

Tackling social insecurity

The EU must tackle social insecurity: the PES should push for finding a coherent and effective answer. We need to give people a feeling of social human security – especially to young people. Therefore Manifesto should include proposals against youth unemployment, as well as against new forms of exploitation such as unpaid internships.

A balanced model of European flexicurity has to be achieved. As pointed out by MEP Harlem Désir, this model should be a better individual security to face economic changes. We need a coherent strategy around issues such as life-long learning, equal opportunities, and inclusion of senior workers. In this respect, Free Health Service and Free Education from cradle to grave should be part of the fundamental human rights of every citizen.

Ensuring decent work and decent life

Several participants noted the need for a European decent minimum wage, as a percentage of the national average wage. Someone proposed to automatically link salaries and the minimum wage to a basket of prices (as is done in Belgium), thus protecting the purchase power of the working class.

The possibility of taxing imports from poor countries which do not respect basic human rights and decent work criteria (very low wages, children labour…) was also debated. If some noted that this was necessary, others considered that such a tax would harm fair trade goods from those countries. The latter rather proposed to put pressure on the companies that import and sell goods made in poverty, support the setting up of trade unions in developing countries, and the establishment of an international transparent tracking system of goods, for example through "negative labelling" of companies that do not respect the minimum working protection standards.

Protecting citizens, not companies!

One of the main challenge is that of the regulation of public services. The PES must demand a thorough evaluation of the results of liberalisation and privatisation of some key sectors of public utilities in order to see whether this is is satisafying with respect to citizen needs. We will have to think about the best way to accomodate decent public services through state-run enterprises and competition rules of the common market.

Gender inequalities

Gender equality needs to be a priority for the Manifesto. Participants agreed on the need to raise awareness about the gender pay gap. Regarding equal opportunities, a participant noted that women and men should have the same rights and obligations towards their children; also, better child care facilities and parental leave would help mothers developing their professional careers. It is untolerable that women are forced to choose between family life and work. We must demand shared parenthood to ensure fathers also stay home with their children. The Manifesto should demand longer, more equally shared parental leaves for whole Europe, but also greater support for families with babies. Another participant noted that the priority should be to improve representation of women in politics.

A solution to the challenge of ageing societies

Most seniors do have plenty to offer to the community! As long as no one is prevented from having a peaceful retirement, pensioners should have the opportunity to develop their skills in a variety of social enterprises, some of which could prove lucrative. We need to find attractive and rewarding tasks that do not deprive others of paid employment but expand community services. It is necessary to adopt social and health policies based on the analysis of the needs of those suffering of rheumatic diseases.

Immigration

Several participants agreed that linking the job demand and offer, promoting immigrants to return to their home countries in order to contribute more consistently to their economies and trying to respect and integrate different cultures in Europe, is the right path to choose in order to have legal and sustainable immigration process

Invest in the future: education and R&D

Participants to the online discussions agreed that the EU should increase funding for research and development, including raising wages for scientists and stipends for PhD students (sufficient to support themselves, including social security contribution). Education was also seen as key to Europe’s future. A participant recommended that school be compulsory until the age of 18; others insisted that the key issue was equal access to education. The Manifesto should therefore support free education all over Europe. The issue of free university education was also debated, some supporting it in the name of equal opportunities and others worrying about taxpayers paying for the education of the wealthier. Participants also agreed on the need to raise financial aid, ensuring that every young person living in Europe could to obtain the opportunity to experience the Erasmus Programme.

Towards the international regulation of financial markets

Participants highlighted the need to regulate international financial flows. French and European activists noted that the Manifesto should propose a tax on financial flows, whose product would be used to ensure a more social globalisation. Participants also noted that the Manifesto could propose to sign the petition to repeal article 56 of the Lisbon Treaty which prohibits any restrictions on financial flows.

The first day the Romanian social democratic foundation ‘Ovidiu Sincai’ invited for a debate at their headquarters in Bucharest. Around 30 students, intellectuals and party members took part in the meeting and shared their ideas for the future of social democracy in Europe. Among the speakers was the Director of Ovidiu Sincai Anne Juganaru, MEP Titus Corlatean and PES Secretary-General Philip Cordery.

On the second day the discussions moved to Brasov for a seminar for Romanian PES activists. Even though the event took place short time before the local elections, around 100 Romanian activists showed up to discuss the PES manifesto on ‘Europe Day’, 9 May. The PES Secretary-General insisted on the link between local problems and European solutions and expressed on this occasion support to PSD local candidate in Brasov.

Another hot topic was the free movement of workers and how mobility can be a threat to social and workers’ rights. The Romanian activists concluded that free movement and social rights should not be seen as opposites, but instead go hand in hand with a “New Social Europe”. Therefore, the PES should be the European-level party to promote this point of view.

Among the speakers on the PES seminar were Mircea Dan Geoana, party leader, and Rovana Plumb and Adrian Severin, Members of the Parliament.

Thanks to Romanian PES activists and party members for sharing their ideas!

The debate, a two-day event that that took place late April, gathered participants from the party in Riga. Among the speakers was Philip Cordery, Secretary-General of the PES, who presented the PES report on “New Social Europe”. This set off a discussion on the recent ‘Laval case’ where Swedish trade unions took action against a Latvian construction company in Sweden, violating collective agreements. The case was brought to the European Court of Justice which delivered a controversial ruling: Swedish trade unions cannot oblige a foreign company posting workers in Sweden to observe collective bargaining agreements. The 80 meeting participants stated their support for the position of the PES and agreed that Latvians working abroad should be entitled to the same rights as local workers.

There were also other ideas put forward for the PES manifesto:

• Tackling the global financial crisis
• Free higher education
• Making better use of European structural funds

Reforming the Common Agricultural Policy and ensuring a fairer distribution of support between old and new member states

The second day of the event featured a meeting at the Vidzeme University, in Valmeria. Around 50 social sciences students joined the meeting to discuss the future of Europe’s political parties.

Two fruitful days with many ideas for the PES manifesto. Thanks to Latvian party members for their dedication!

Kurt Beck, SPD chairman, is determined to fight for decent work and minimum income! He also wants to lower the social security contributions of low-earners and make up for the budgetary shortfall by raising taxes for the wealthy.

The announcements were made during a debate between SPD party leadership and some 3.000 delegates that came together in Nuremberg in the end of May to discuss the future of Germany and its oldest party.

Attending one of about 20 thematic discussion forums, party members could mingle with prominent representatives of the German social democracy. The panel on “New Social Europe”, for example, brought together Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul (Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development), Michael Sommer (Chairman of the German Confederation of Trade Unions), Martin Schulz (MEP, President of the Parliamentary Group of the PES) and Bernhard Rapkay (MEP, Head of the SPD delegation).

There was a consensus among participants that the central idea of the European social model is still up to date: economic growth and social justice combined with ecological responsibility are no contradictions. In an increasingly globalised world it’s up to the social democrats to renew the policy strategy for the European societies. There is a need for European standards when it comes to employment rights and co-determination. German social democrats therefore want to establish a social stability pact for Europe, taking into account targets and standards of education and social spending.

Who else, if not social democrats, can make Europe the vanguard in the peaceful, social and sustainable shaping of globalisation? Martin Schulz underlined that a new social Europe will not be realized by conservative governments. He called upon his fellow party members to be vigilant about the dismantling of the social welfare state (Sarkozy) and the concentration of political, economic and media power (Berlusconi). Only a strong social democratic group in the European Parliament can counterbalance a majority of conservative Commissioners and build up a truly social Europe.

In the totalitarian regimes the trade unions were a transmition belt of the communist party. They existed as a kind of social institution organizing holidays and socialist emulation. They were something like the vertical unions in Spain during the Franco's regime. There was no collective bargaining, and the only positive element of their attitude was the free of charge representation of the members before tribunals in labour disputes. After the great General Strike in November 1989 Strike Committees were created and then the Coordination Centre of the strike committees was created in the capital of Moravia, Brno. So a parallel structure with the former communist "Revolutionary Trade Union Movement" was born. At congresses in January 1990 sixty unions were established. Then in March the Czechoslovak confederation of trade unions was created. The Confederation became the member of the ICFTU in May 1999.

The important result of the Congress which was free, democratic and supervised by observers from trade unions of democratic states was unique: the new trade union structures took over all the assets of the old communist unions. And so the Czech trade unions did not face the problem which other trade unions in post communist countries had to solve: the problem of the takeover of the assets of the former communist unions.

I must say, that in some countries the solution was not found until now. This together with the friendly attitude of the political parties brought results: good laws on collective bargaining and freedom of association was adopted. The positive role of the unions played during the so called Velvet Revolution brought results. But this is another story for another article.