Published Wednesday, July 2, 2008 at 10:01
by
rikkeindenmark
in In the spotlight (572 views and 0 comments)
Not long ago I learned
about the PES Group in the Committee of the Regions. To be
honest I didn't know about the group's existence until a year ago
(ignorance is not always bliss), but it's a forum for local and
regional politicians to meet and discuss EU politics. It's an
interesting organization because many EU decisions impact greatly
on the local level - and the PES Group is a chance for local and
regional social democrats to meet and work together to influence EU
policies.
I admit that this was a digression from the topic that I actually
wanted to address in this post! The reason why I brought up the
PES Group in the Committee of the Regions is that the group has
its own PES manifesto consultation - and in this
consultation there's a fifth point of discussion, in addition to
the four 'traditional' themes - namely the gender dimension.
I agree very much with the view-point of the PES Group - that
there's a significant gender aspect to all four manifesto themes
- and I hope the 'pervasiveness' of gender issues will be taken
into consideration when the PES manifesto is drafted over the
coming months....
The three discussion panels brought together numerous local social
democrats, top decision-makers and experts who committed themselves
to help build a coherent socialist and social democratic programme
with a distinct local and regional perspective relating to the EU's
environmental, institutional and external challenges.
Major consequences for global economy
Opening the conference,
read more
Published Thursday, May 8, 2008 at 12:07
by
asa.westlund
in Save our planet (904 views and 3 comments)
Almost
daily we hear alarming news about one of the biggest challenges
of our time – the one about the global warming. As citizens and
consumers we have a responsibility to act. A responsibility not
always easy to handle. Scientific reports from governments,
companies and others are sometimes contradictory, and it’s easy
to lose hope and feel powerless. This is where the EU, as a big
actor on the world wide market has an important role to play. It
is here we see the necessity of political action rather than just
letting the free market decide.
But it is not enough- It must also be easier for all European
citizens to make environment friendly decisions and thereby
taking their own responsibility! The environmental crisis is to
enormous and complex to be solved on just one political level.
Its first when we act both individually, locally, in larger
regions and globally that we can make a change. It does not mean
that we can wait for someone else to take responsibility, rather
that we all must take action now. We have to act as a united
front. Many citizens are trying to take action. With everyday
actions, like leaving the car at home and travel by bus, or
buying locally produced and bio grown products, everyone can make
a difference.
At the same time it has to be easy to make the right choice,...
Euro Coop
is the European community of consumer cooperatives and one of
many NGOs who is giving their ideas for the PES manifesto. In the
video below Secretary General Rodrigo Gouveia gives the
highlights of Euro Coop's contribution to the PES manifesto:
Published Tuesday, March 18, 2008 at 12:07
by
Duncan Anderson
in EU in the world (704 views and 2 comments)
Almost everybody with an e-mail address gets SPAM and most of us
treat it as one of modern day life's inconveniences.
But it must be remembered that there is a lot of pain, anguish and
suffering caused through SPAM.
How many people have lost life savings through "boiler
houses"?
How many people have been made ill by counterfeit medicines?
How many children and adults have suffered because of the
POpcoRN that gets SPAMMED nowadays?
How much money is being laundered behind SPAMMING?
How much of this activity goes to sponsoring criminal and
terrorist activities?
How many businesses have lost trade because anti-spam
software has whacked their legitimate E-mails ?
How many business have suffered from hacking and other
cyber-terrorists activities?
SPAM is a pan-global problem and no one country can resolve
it. It needs and pan-global approach, starting with an
international body raising it on the global stage.
If the PES manifesto is going to be relevant to average Europeans
is must address the problems of average Europeans and there is
nothing that affects average Europeans more than SPAM.
Considering the affect SPAM has on trade and the amount of Internet
bandwidth it is abusing it would be more than possible for the EU
to argue that trade sanctions are a legitimate tool against
countries that do little or nothing to prevent SPAM.
read more
Even though discussion
paper 'Save our
planet' concentrates mostly on energy policy, I would like
discuss also about the influence of the traffic emissions.
Traffic is excluded from Kyoto protocol, but it still produces 20
percent of all CO2 emissions. The European Parliament tried to
restrict emissions of private cars, but right wing coalition
watered down that decision. What we need to reduce emissions of the
traffic is better public transportation and restricting heavily
polluting cars.
It’s quite controversial that when we have just started to realise
the power of the climate change, we have also started to fly more
than ever. Flying is definitely the most polluting way of traffic
and yet it’s still cheaper than ever before. Our goal should be
that using train is always cheaper than flying or using private
cars, but at the moment we are far, far away from that goal. In
Central Europe flying from one big city to another might be cheaper
than taking a taxi from airport to the centre. I’m afraid that
consumers are not willing to change this. It’s too attempting to
fly away for a weekend with less than 50 euros - for the first time
in history is travelling possible for everyone. I have to admit
that I haven’t been thinking...
read more
We have seen a very lively debate about a number of relevant topics
in the 'Save
our planet' section of Yourspace. The contributions from
bloggers and PES activists demonstrate a growing interest in
climate change issues, and they offered important ideas for the PES
to work on. Here are the highlights:
Biofuels
The pro’s and con’s of EU support for biofuels have been a hot topic with a
big number of comments from our participants. Migeru, taipale and
other users were sceptical whether the current generation of
biofuels are really an answer to energy scarcity. Clearly,
participants want a sustainable answer and not one, which threatens
to add to environmental problems.
Encouraging greener life styles
What is your individual answer to climate change? The idea to
calculate our individual contribution to climate change, the
so-called carbon footprint, has been received with interest. Nanne
from Berlin added an important point: this user called for
political support and advice for a green life style. One option is
the the so-called 'front-runner approach', an idea the PES can and
should discuss...
read more
Most people know that
owning a car impacts on the environment – but less are aware that
buying new clothes and going out for dinner also result in CO2
pollution.
The ‘Carbon Footprint Calculator’ is a website that
helps you estimate the number of tonnes of CO2 that your lifestyle
amounts to. Once your footprint is calculated you can compare it to
the average of your country and find out just how sustainable your
lifestyle is. The average footprint of people in industrial nations
is 11 tonnes. In comparison the world average is 4 tons – and will
have to be reduced to half if we are to fight climate change.
Without doubt the modern way of life is a threat to clean air. The
Japanese government has taken action to prevent pollution from
consumption. In Japan the law says that the most energy efficient
consumer products must be standard within five years. Environmental
NGOs have called for the introduction of similar laws in
Europe.
How far should the EU go more to ensure eco-friendly lifestyles?
When is a sustainable lifestyle the responsibility of the
individual citizen – and when should the EU pass laws?
read more
What will the PES do to encourage a low carbon consumption
style in Europe?
How will Europe’s socialists and social democrats address the
challenge of climate change?
Where does the PES stand on nuclear energy?
These were some of the questions we received when we encouraged
Yourspace users to ask questions to Mona Sahlin, leader of the
Social Democratic Party of Sweden and responsible for the
manifesto theme Save our planet. Check out her answers in the video
below.
in In the spotlight (572 views and 0 comments)
Not long ago I learned
about the PES Group in the Committee of the Regions. To be
honest I didn't know about the group's existence until a year ago
(ignorance is not always bliss), but it's a forum for local and
regional politicians to meet and discuss EU politics. It's an
interesting organization because many EU decisions impact greatly
on the local level - and the PES Group is a chance for local and
regional social democrats to meet and work together to influence EU
policies.
After having held a
conference on New Social Europe on April 8, the
PES Group in the Committee of the Regions met up again
to discuss the three remaining topics of the PES manifesto
consultation: Save our planet, European democracy and diversity and EU in the world.
The extraordinary meeting was held on 15-16 May in Turin,
Italy, at the invitation of Mercedes Bresso, President of the
Piedmont Region and President of the PES Group in the Committee of
the Regions.
Almost
daily we hear alarming news about one of the biggest challenges
of our time – the one about the global warming. As citizens and
consumers we have a responsibility to act. A responsibility not
always easy to handle. Scientific reports from governments,
companies and others are sometimes contradictory, and it’s easy
to lose hope and feel powerless. This is where the EU, as a big
actor on the world wide market has an important role to play. It
is here we see the necessity of political action rather than just
letting the free market decide.
Even though discussion
paper 'Save our
planet' concentrates mostly on energy policy, I would like
discuss also about the influence of the traffic emissions.
loading...