Published Thursday, September 4, 2008 at 16:33
by
Editor
in Debate (32 views and 0 comments)
read more
Published Wednesday, July 9, 2008 at 17:35
by
Editor
in In the spotlight (742 views and 1 comments)
Some of our
activists are already started spreading the voice about the
Vienna Forum! Here are some of their reactions:
- More than 10 posts have already been published by activists on YourSpace.
- Nils, from the PES secretariat, created a Facebook group.
- Aleksander, from Paris, posted photos on Flickr. And so did Francisco and the PES Secretariat
. You can also find photos on Emilio's Picasa web albums.
- Paula, from Brussels, posted photos on Facebook. And so did
read morePublished Wednesday, July 9, 2008 at 09:52
by
carlosmoret 
in European democracy & diversity (571 views and 0 comments)
The
Vienna forum was a very rich encounter. As for me the
presentation of activist campaigning was especially interesting,
since I tend to get easily involved. On the one hand there is the
manifesto2009, well under way that gives us a common platform for
the parliamentary elections, but that does not give me clues as
how to campaign. The Manifesto is an excellent tool, but we have
to sell it.
In the presentation "Experience Europe - Cross-border campaign exchanges" the panel was formed by four activists presenting different aspects of their campaigning in Ireland, Spain, Portugal and France.
Adrian O'Sullivan presented us his experience with PES activists
coming to Ireland to help in their election. I wasn't planning to
make a report, and therefore took no notes, just took pictures.
Adrian mentioned that integrating the non Irish activists was a
priority. There were the logistic...
Tags: activists, campaign, forum, PES
File:
J_Reis_Santos_vienna.ppt
Published Wednesday, July 9, 2008 at 09:33
by
desmondotoole
in European democracy & diversity (519 views and 5 comments)
Immediately
following the NO vote in the recent Irish referendum activists
from the Irish Labour Party, French Parti Socialiste and others
have set up PES activists Dublin. We were
already planning such an initiative but the referendum result
gave added urgency to our work. We recognise that this is
potentially a defining moment in Ireland's relationship with the
EU and as a consequence in the structure and dynamics of Irish
politics.
The inaugural meeting of PES activists in Ireland was held on
Tuesday 24th June in the Labour Parliamentary Room in Leinster
House, Dublin - the home of the Oireachtas (Irish Parliament). We
met below a mural which showed the early and more modern leaders
of the Irish labour movement grouped around an image of Marianne
leading the French people in the Revolution of 1830. Ireland's
republicanism and our socialism owe much to the example of the
French revolutions and meeting beneath this mural was our way of
paying homage to that tradition.
Our aim is to build European Left politics on the ground in
Dublin. Since June, more than 70 activists have joined our city
group. There is enormous interest both in Dublin and across
Ireland in what we are proposing. PES people are "on the move" in
Ireland! Two events in particular have brought in extra
members:...
Published Tuesday, July 8, 2008 at 16:47
by
Editor
in In the spotlight (462 views and 0 comments)
The PES manifesto consultation has ended – after over 300,000 visits to Yourspace and more than 600 contributions posted! But our dialogue on ‘Yourspace’ goes on! We will continue to debate the hot issues that will shape the European elections – migration, climate change, rising food and energy prices, jobs, equality, the EU treaty – as well as getting ready for the elections: presenting PES candidates from different countries, discussing campaign activities, hearing about your events, exposing opposition parties and candidates, drawing the dividing lines between the PES and the other European parties, and keeping you informed about the preparation of the PES manifesto.
We will kick off the post-consultation dialogue with a debate on migration – kicked off by Portuguese socialist and former European Commissioner Antonio Vitorino – as well as reports from the PES activists forum in Vienna on July 4-5 (the final event of...
read morePublished Monday, July 7, 2008 at 15:49
by
carlosmoret
in In the spotlight (420 views and 1 comments)
Was the activists
Forum in Vienna an abnormal week-end for abnormal people? Are we
abnormal people to start with as Bo Krovig - a campaign specialist
of the Swedish party - said?
In a way Bo was right, it was a beautiful week-end, nice and sunny in Vienna and there we were, a bunch of some 300 people sitting in a room with no windows, listening to other speakers talk, at times fighting against sleep, raising our hands to get a chance to say a word when instead we should have been pick-nicking in a park with friends or family. And, to make matters worse, we had to put our hands deep into our pockets to get those Euros out that paid for our trip to Vienna. And there was fatigue too. I had a General Assembly of my PS section and got home late on Thursday night, still having to pack, try to get a few hours of sleep before starting off and finding my way to the airport. Helène worked late on Friday, but I convinced her to go to because I was confident that she would love the experience. And she did, in spite of fatigue.
The Vienna forum was really worth it, and sorry Bo, but I wouldn't have traded it for the best pick-nick in the nicest park or field of the Union with the best possible company; company we had, and the best too! And if you, my fellow activist, missed...
read morePublished Saturday, July 5, 2008 at 19:18
by
joelld
in New Social Europe (419 views and 0 comments)
Rainbow Rose
LGBT, an observer member of the Party of European Socialists,
has been present throughout the consultation of PES activists
since the very beginning in 2007. Our network produced a
contribution to emphasize the need for the European Union to
ensure that one of its core values – equality of rights for all –
is going to make new progresses that will benefit all citizens.
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...
read morePublished Saturday, July 5, 2008 at 12:39
by
Editor
in In the spotlight (519 views and 6 comments)
300 PES activists
are in Vienna to discuss the proposal for the manifesto2009! PES
President, Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, Alfred Gusenbauer, Federal
Chancellor of Austria, Andreas Schieder, State Secretary within
the Austrian Federal Chancellery, and Ania Skrzypek, Secretary
General of ECOSY, welcomed the participants during the opening
ceremony.
Today four sessions took place on "Campaigning" and on the "Manifesto" issues. The participation was high with very positive outcome!
Drop by our Flickr channel and check some of the photos!
read morePublished Friday, July 4, 2008 at 10:05
by
Editor
in In the spotlight (399 views and 0 comments)
Vienna receives this weekend the first PES activists Forum. “Vienna 2008 – a strong voice for European social democracy” gathers together leading politicians from PES member parties, activists and experts to discuss the outcome of the manifesto2009 campaign. They will draw-up their ideas for a strong campaign for the next European elections.
The opening session of the Forum is scheduled for this afternoon. Tomorrow, four parallel sessions will take place on both “Manifesto” and “Campaigning” themes.
During the day, participants will discuss not only the four consultation themes – “Save our World, “New Social Europe”, “Europe in the World” and “European democracy and diversity” – but also other transversal issues such as “Experience in Europe – Cross-border campaign exchanges”, “Strike back on ultraconservative speech”, “Social networking over Internet or “A European dimension in European election campaigns”.
The Forum, organised together with the SPÖ, the Renner Institute and the Foundation for European Progressive Studies (FEPS), will close the PES manifesto consultation.
read morePublished Thursday, June 26, 2008 at 09:39
by
negrescuvictor
in European democracy & diversity (354 views and 2 comments)
Most of European
countries confront themselves with the problem of bringing
youngsters to vote at the different elections. Regarding European
elections the stats are similar to the other elections even knowing
Europe normally speaks more about the future of our societies.
Involving youngsters in the European project and inside the socialist parties is becoming a more and more difficult task even know many of the PES member parties have chosen to promote younger leaders or building special information campaigns. The question is to find a way in interesting youngsters in politics and in the European project.
PES activists Romania has participated at a debate in Bucharest on this issue and came to a general conclusion: the need of appealing and the necessity of offering new solutions to the next generation of social problems. It become clear to us that European themes have to been translated in a language understandable for everyone and this is a task that the PES has to assume.
There are social groups excluded by European politics because of its high level of specialization or simply by the lack of time and this is a task socialists have to complete. On the other hand we have to create new topics for our societies and mainly youngsters and attract the public opinion’s attention on them. We have to stop waiting...
read morePublished Wednesday, June 25, 2008 at 12:47
by
negrescuvictor
in In the spotlight (530 views and 2 comments)
While reading the
contributions submitted by several PES member parties or by
different NGOs I have noticed something that I thought has
disappeared. What is that exactly? The desire to
change the world, to ask ourselves what is wrong and, thus, to
think about improving the current situation.
We are far away from living in a perfect world and sometimes it can be difficult to imagine that thousands or millions of people are starving, getting incurable diseases, people who don’t have access to the basic survival needs, not to talk about the lack of education.
Europe is far from having resolved its own problems but the power of our political (social and economic) Union resides in the value of solidarity. Countries and regions have been reconstructed based on this solidarity, people have known prosperity and wealth, the living conditions have improved and no one can say otherwise. People from countries like Ireland, Greece, Spain, and Portugal know what I’m talking about… Solidarity is difficult when this means giving a bite of your wealth but you always have to remember that this is what EU is all about: mutual help when you are facing a bad economic situation.
The current economic situation that is getting generally worst is...
read morePublished Wednesday, June 25, 2008 at 12:29
by
Editor
in In the spotlight (426 views and 0 comments)
The European
Network of Social Democratic Foundations (ENSoF) became very
involved in the PES Manifesto consultation, coordinating research
with their 16 member organizations. They started in January 2008
with a preparatory workshop in Vienna and since then successively
held four further workshops in Sofia, Athens, Paris and Rome – one on each of the
core themes. Debating the draft papers with MEPs and other experts
in Brussels on May 29, ENSoF finally delivered a very comprehensive
booklet as their contribution to the PES
Manifesto consultation.
The scientific yet political approach of the foundations to the most important issues on the European agenda undoubtedly represents a unique enrichment to the consultation process. Having done extensive analytical research, ENSoF also presented a number of concrete proposals on “Europe in the world”, “European Democracy and Diversity”, “Save our Planet” and “New Social Europe”. Here is just a small selection:
Published Monday, June 23, 2008 at 18:26
by
chourka
in European democracy & diversity (699 views and 12 comments)
Plusieurs
contributions (Brussels PES working group, Contribution du PS 67,
contribution de la Fédération de Paris) mettent en avant la
nécessité pour les partis européens à commencer par le PSE
d'offrir aux électeurs un choix clairs entre la droite et la
gauche.
Toutes soulignent également qu'un mode de scrutin uniforme pour l'élection des députés européens est un objectif de plus en plus urgent de réaliser.
Enfin, la proposition formulée par Jacques Delors de faire du chef de file du parti arrivé en tête lors des Européennes, le Président de la Commission, est littéralement plébiscitée. Se pose alors pour les partis politiques européens la question de l'organisation concrête de cette désignation.
Pour un courant de pensée démocratique comme le socialisme, il n'est pas concevable que cela se fasse dans un conclave fermé à huis clos entre leaders des formations composant le PSE. Cela ne peut nécessairement se faire qu'à travers une consultation de l'ensemble des adhérents par un vote de désignation. A dire vrai, en tant que socialistes, nous avons une longueur d'avance par rapport aux Conservateurs et autres...
read morePublished Monday, June 16, 2008 at 19:01
by
Editor
in In the spotlight (366 views and 0 comments)
Supporters of the
PES manifesto2009 of the French Parti Socialiste gathered for the
presentation of the contribution of the Strasbourg Federation.
During the meeting, held at the capital of the Alsace region,
Patrick Dollat, Europe Secretary-General of the Federation,
emphasized the transnational framework of next European elections
to be hold in June 2009.
“We should do a European campaign rather than a national or a campaign based in Brussels. Citizens should be our priority and we should be right next to them”, he said.
Philip Cordery, PES Secretary-General, and Mathieu Cahn, First Secretary of the Strasbourg Federation, also participated on the meeting.
According to Philip Cordery, the PES manifesto can be an
important step to fill the gap between Europe and its citizens as
it is offering grassroots the possibility to actively define a
common campaigning agenda.
In its contribution, the Strasbourg Federation outlines that the social Europe should be structured through the exercise of political rights by EU citizens outside the framework of national States. One of the solutions...
read morePublished Wednesday, June 11, 2008 at 15:17
by
Editor
in In the spotlight (281 views and 0 comments)
The PES has released its Report on
"The EU on the
international scene: Promoting sustainable peace". Presented to
the PES Council in Sofia on 22-23 November 2007, this report has
been written by Jean Asselborn, André Flahaut, Heidemarie
Wieczorek-Zeul, Carin Jämtin, Espen Barth Eide, Alain Richard and
Luciano Vecchi.
read more
Published Tuesday, June 10, 2008 at 14:25
by
Editor
in New Social Europe (403 views and 0 comments)
Members of the Romanian Social Democratic Party met to debate the PES manifesto2009 and the future of the European left.
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...
read morePublished Monday, June 9, 2008 at 15:35
by
Editor
in In the spotlight (295 views and 0 comments)
The PES Group in the Committee of the Regions (CoR) has delivered its contribution for the manifesto2009 adding to it an extra document on gender equality to complement the four defined themes.
Mercedes Bresso, President of the Group, stresses the dimension of local authorities when it comes to create policies aimed at tackling issues falling under the four themes on discussion.
“Given that the local and regional dimension is key for the design and elaboration of policies falling under the four themes identified by the PES as the most relevant for the PES Manifesto, the PES Group in the CoR, as the institutional representative of locally and regionally elected Socialists and Social Democrats, successfully mobilised its members to consult their own constituencies and fellow citizens at grassroots level”, she says.
The PES Group in the CoR had held two meetings to draft and collect expertise for the contribution. One took place in Brusselsand the other in Turin. The President of the Group says that “those events were a unique opportunity for a frank exchange of views amongst PES Group members, high level...
read morePublished Friday, June 6, 2008 at 18:50
by
chourka
in In the spotlight (406 views and 0 comments)
Avec cette contribution
pour le Manifeste 2009, la Fédération de Paris du PS, souhaite,
comme elle l’a fait à chaque étape du développement du rôle et de
la place des militants du PSE, prendre résolument sa part au
travail mené par le PSE en vue des Européennes de juin 2009.
Cette contribution n’est pas exhaustive. Volontairement, elle
n’aborde que certaines questions sur lesquelles les militants
parisiens du PSE ont voulu mettre particulièrement l’accent.
Elle est le résultat d’un travail collectif approfondi qui a
démarré avec la venue de Poul Nyrup Rasmussen le 15 avril à
Paris. De nombreuses réunions de travail se sont tenues : au sein
des sections parisiennes du PS, au sein de groupes de travail
constitués sur la base des notes de cadrage diffusées par le PSE,
à l’occasion de la tenue de quatre ateliers fédéraux sur les
quatre thèmes retenus et enfin lors d’une réunion de synthèse
générale qui s’est déroulée le mercredi 28 mai.
Ce sont au total plusieurs centaines de militants parisiens du
PSE qui se sont...
Published Tuesday, June 3, 2008 at 16:45
by
timclapham
in In the spotlight (462 views and 2 comments)
Editor’s note: The
manifesto2009 hit the classroom! The initiative was discussed
during a lecture at Poland’s School of Public Administration and
you can read it here…Tags: EU, manifesto, PES
File:
Time for a new language.doc
Published Monday, June 2, 2008 at 18:20
by
Editor
in In the spotlight (444 views and 0 comments)
Contributions for the PES manifesto keep flowing! We received over 30 contributions, 12 of which coming from NGOs and civil society organizations. Consult the contributions and give us your opinion on those you consider as the most relevant for you!
So far we received the following contributions from
organizations:
- Caritas Europe
- Africa-Europe Faith and Justice Network
- AGE - European Older People's Platform
- Business Europe
- Euro Coop - European Community of Consumer
Cooperatives
- Eurodad
- European Anti-Poverty Network - Social reality
stocktaking
- European Federation of Journalists - New Social
Europe
- European Women's Lobby ,
Published Sunday, June 1, 2008 at 22:40
by
Editor
in In the spotlight (319 views and 0 comments)
Good news! Many
contributions for the manifesto are coming from all sectors. Not
only the PES activists and parties members are having their say on
the consultation process but also MEPs, members of the Committee of
the Regions and NGOs are giving their input!Published Thursday, May 29, 2008 at 13:45
by
jose reis santos
in New Social Europe (468 views and 0 comments)
Today I would like to focus my attention on two women committed to the “New Social Europe” and representing different levels of participation - PES at the EP (European Parliament) and PS (Socialist Party) Portugal. I am talking about Zita Gurmai and Edite Estrela.
I propose you to watch Zita Gurmai’s interview during our Faro session on the «New Social Europe» theme (you can see Zita’s intervention here – part 1, part 2 and part 3).
Edite Estrela,
read morePublished Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 13:44
by
ccarnero
in In the spotlight (472 views and 1 comments)
A very important
meeting to prepare the PSOE's general contribution to the PES manifesto2009
was held this Tuesday in Madrid. The meeting took place under the
patronage of Elena Valenciano, responsible for PSOE’s
International Relations, and Diego López Garrido, EU Secretary of
State.
Elena Valenciano stressed that “Zapatero’s policies are nowadays a reference. Therefore successful politics in Spain can also be successful in Europe”.
To read the complete report on the meeting visit this link!
read morePublished Friday, May 9, 2008 at 11:36
by
Editor
in European democracy & diversity (523 views and 1 comments)
In a PES statement for Europe Day, PES President Poul Nyrup Rasmussen said the real debate was not for or against Europe but what sort of European Union do we want. Zita Gurmai, President of PES Women underlined the PES commitment to develop a new agenda for Europe for the next European elections in June 2009 that recognises citizens’ aspirations and concerns for the future.
Read the press release here
read morePublished Tuesday, April 29, 2008 at 17:00
by
eromerof
in European democracy & diversity (713 views and 0 comments)
Today, European Union is an economic reality but not a political one because the weight of European Institutions in the international scene is very frail. This situation is not very good for the people who believe that economic liberalism is too strong in the whole world thanks to the globalization phenomenon. Social globalization is not so strong as the economical one and this is a real problem for the “socialist family” since the values of socialism are based on a social way of thinking.
That is the reason because the European Socialists should work to build a very strong Party of European Socialists. We have to compensate for the excessive power of economic liberalism with a new model of social protection. European Union should take enough power to become one of the main international players (such as the United States, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, Japan, etc.) with real capacity of influence in the “international social agenda”. Today, decisions should be taken in a global way; socialists should bring together all their resources to push for a change in the European Institutions, and ways of acting of the European Union. Socialism must become global, as global as liberalism, otherwise our main institution (welfare state) will disappear.
Find a
read morePublished Friday, April 4, 2008 at 11:58
by
Editor
in In the spotlight (925 views and 1 comments)
This week
communication experts from Europe’s socialist and social democratic
parties met in Brussels to debate the campaign for the 2009
European elections. 50 dedicated campaigners met to share ideas on
how to campaign together as one political family.Published Wednesday, March 19, 2008 at 10:13
by
Poul_Nyrup_Rasmussen
in European democracy & diversity (683 views and 0 comments)
I would really take
this point about decent conditions for migration and integration of
migrants as one of the most important ones for the
future work of the PES. With the Lisbon Treaty, European
cooperation on migration will be reinforced and at the next meeting
of the PES Presidency we will have a debate on
migration and integration.Published Tuesday, March 18, 2008 at 15:08
by
Poul_Nyrup_Rasmussen
in European democracy & diversity (820 views and 3 comments)
How can we spark a
greater interest in EU politics? Lolomodrego asked this question some time ago and it
is a good one.Published Wednesday, March 5, 2008 at 10:06
by
yoan.abiven
in New Social Europe (802 views and 1 comments)
In these
present times of total and globalised capitalism, what socialists
really strive for is to equate prosperity and solidarity anew. In
former times, in XIXth century France, this was called
“solidarisme”. It was only through the Republic and socialism that
France was able to consolidate and give a human face to this new
individualistic order and come up with the first social insurance
systems. It seems to me that we are undergoing a similar transition
today. True, the present context is totally different: we are in
post-modern times where Nation States are fading and we are asking
ourselves the eternal question of the relationship between
individuals and society. To what regulations, what authority could
these free individuals legitimately be accountable? This question
is relevant at all levels: in the family structure, in the company,
in the streets, at university, when paying taxes, etc. As for the
workplace, there is a social-democratic response, namely
flexicurity and this response is based on a clear awareness of the
conditions of the knowledge economy. Is this enough? I am committed
to two things: Europe on the one hand and France on the other. Here
is why.Published Sunday, March 2, 2008 at 23:58
by
rikkeindenmark
in European democracy & diversity (825 views and 1 comments)
Among this morning’s
activities at the Danish PES manifesto conference was a workshop about
campaigns and cooperation in Europe – the participants discussed
how Europe’s social democrats can work together on common
campaign initiatives in the next European elections. There were
plenty of ideas – to mention a few:
Published Saturday, March 1, 2008 at 18:32
by
rikkeindenmark
in New Social Europe (837 views and 0 comments)
The afternoon of the Danish conference on the PES manifesto ended with a plenary where the four work groups presented a ‘top 3’ of priorities for their manifesto theme. Here are, from my view, some of the most interesting ideas brought forward:
Published Tuesday, February 19, 2008 at 10:35
by
mariope
in European democracy & diversity (934 views and 3 comments)
Today, economic
globalization is an obviously true. Social globalization is not so
obvious. The reason is that economic liberalism is based in
“laissez fair-laissez passer” so, they don’t need any institution
to make it happen, the
invisible hand of Adam Smith does their work very efficiently.
The capitals move freely everywhere and they go where they get more
profits, normally they go to the countries where social rights are
not so strong because the welfare state requires a lot of money in
taxes. From my point of view, the only way to avoid this situation
is to build a strong European Socialist Party. European Union must
to take enough power to became one of the main international
subjects (USA, IMF, MB, Japan…) with real capacity of influence in
the international scene. Today, decisions must to be taken in a
global way, socialists must to put together all their resources to
push for a change in the institutions, and ways of acting of the
European Union. Socialism must to became global, as global as
liberalism, other way our main institution will disappear.
read more
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