PES Manifesto

Eric Sundström: the New Social Europe is also Green

Publié mercredi 13 février 2008 à 15h55
par Eric (vu 1607 fois et 3 commentaires)

Hey!

It’s my third day as your guest blogger, and today I would like to present some specific policy proposals. And I will start with a political issue very close to my heart: the environment.

None of my parents (Bo and Gunnel) were members of a political party when I grew up. However, my dad Bo was very interested in politics in general, and environmental issues in particular. He started working with green issues already in the early 1960s, when Rachel Carson’s book ”Silent Spring” served as one of the first alarm bells. At the time, my dad did some research into why some birds’ eggs were too shallow and broke before the new little bird was born. The reason was that the birds were fed with foodstuffs containing mercury.

Ever since 1960s, we have gradually become better at ensuring that growth must be ecologically and socially sustainable. If growth means that birds are fed mercury, our society will not be sustainable in the long run. The EU has been good at slowly transforming societies in the right direction in this way, and Mark Leonard wrote a fantastic little book about how the EU's ”soft power” is so much more efficient than the ”hard power” of the US. The book is called ”Why Europe will run the 21st Century” and is a necessary read for everyone to the left of center.

Anyway, I would like to argue that one of the most important aspects of this ”soft power”, is the ”green power” of the European Union. Today, Europe has a key role in the UN climate negotiations that aims at creating a post-Kyoto treaty and greener world order. Also when it comes to biodiversity, chemicals, and a lot of other areas we can see several environmental challenges for the world where the European Union is not only needed, but the best pupil in the class.

Yesterday I mentioned a book by Delors and Rasmussen, ”The New Social Europe”, and the appendix with policy examples. Today, I would like to urge the PES to launch a similar project but related to climate change and other environmental issues.

The book can be called ”The New Sustainable Europe” or ”The New Social Europe is also Green” [thanks for discussing these ideas with me Henrik!!!]. Here are two policy ideas I would like to find in that project:

• A detailed explanation of how great congestion charges have been in London and Stockholm, and how it easily can be implemented in other European cities. Benefits include: Less traffic, better air quality, and an influx of money thanks to the fees that can be spent on public transport, road improvements and bicycle lanes. Problems include: The fees will hurt working people with small incomes who have to use the car to drive in and out and across the city.
• A detailed explanation of the Swedish Climate Change Local Investment Program. Some parts of this program were directed at municipalities and regions and the aim was to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases, for example thorough investment in urban public transport, but also through increasing the energy efficiency in public buildings.

Another program worked like this: The government heavily subsidized ordinary house-owners who got rid of heating systems based on oil, and swapped to heating systems based on renewable sources. Benefits include: Loads and loads of Swedish house-owners took the chance to upgrade their heating systems, using the government subsidy. As a result the whole country got less dependent on oil. Problems include: Obviously, there is a short term cost for the government, who has to pay for the subsidies. But in the long run, we are all winners (except for the oil drillers).

My question to y'all is: What policy ideas would you like to add to this list?

Eric Sundström, editor in chief at Aktuellt i Politiken, the newspaper of the Swedish Social Democratic Party

* * *

When I speak of green issues and the EU, I must mention that I am lucky enough to be good friends with two excellent MEP:s in our PES-group, who are serving on the Environment Committee: Åsa Westlund and Dan Jørgensen. Watch out for these two in the future, their political futures are as bright as they are sharp and ambitious.

* * *

Hillary Clinton had another bad night yesterday. There is a big buzz about the changes in her campaign, and if these things interest you at all, you should read Joshua Green in The Atlantic and Michelle Cottle in The New Republic. Just a piece of advice to other nerds out there…

* * *

And here is some music for y’all as well: Ryan Bingham's "Southside Of Heaven" is a song I just don't manage to get out of my head.

Tags: blogueur de la semaine, changement climatique, énergie, environnement, PSE