-
Have your say: PES activists statements
13 posts
Written by PES activists newsblog
CV : Do you have an interesting topic you want to write about without opening an entire blog of your own? Use the PES activists newsblog to inform other activists about developments in your party, EU issues or your general ideas. Send in information, facts and articles that you find relevant. Just fill out the form and put "newsblog: TITLE" in the subject field. We are waiting for your contributions.
-
Ségolène Royal ovationnée par les parisiens? - 02-02-2007 11:38:20 - Only logged activists can post a comment, please sign in or register here
Un lettre de Carlos Moret, militant du PSE Paris, à ses camerades de parti:
Bonjour,
Peut-être comme pour d'autres, la perspective d'une présidence de M. Sarkozy me préoccupait. Champion de la sécurité, Ministre de l'Intérieur, voyant l'insécurité monter, s'enflammer, il a affiché une volonté d'ordre qui m’est apparue hypocrite, car il n'a rien fait et que la situation aujourd'hui est pire qu'en 2002. Et aussi, comme tant d'autres, le spectre de 2002 me hantait.
(...)
J'entends beaucoup de mes amis dire que Ségolène n'a pas de programme, que sa politique est floue, qu'elle fait gaffe après gaffe, et je ne les blâme pas. (...) Pourtant, la campagne interne du Parti Socialiste a montré qu’une bonne majorité des militants socialistes l'ont choisie face à deux autres candidats qui avaient fait leurs preuves. Alors, est-elle si nulle?
Ce que je me propose par ces lignes c'est de partager mes points de vue, car au fond nous voulons la même chose, une France qui soit un meilleur endroit pour vivre pour nous tous.
(...)
Pour commencer ce projet, quoi de mieux que de lancer une chaleureuse invitation pour le Mardi 6 Février à 19h, à la Halle Carpentier qui pourraît être le lancement de cette campagne.
Pourquoi est-il important d'y aller? Moi, je dirai que la première raison pour y aller est de voir personnellement la candidate, et pourquoi pas, du même coup, le Maire de Paris. Les médias jouent un rôle important dans l'opinion, et Mercredi 7 février, Mardi 6 même, les médias vont titrer "Ségolène Royal ovationnée par les parisiens. Plus de 5.000 personnes ont assisté à la réunion...." ou, au contraire "Ségolène Royal boudée par les Parisiens. Moins de 3000 personnes ont assisté à la réunion...." . Commencer la campagne d'un bon pied est un avantage.
Ça serait bien de se voir Mardi, mais il y aura foule. À Mardi alors?
Carlos -
Tense political situation in Romania - 24-01-2007 18:56:27 - Only logged activists can post a comment, please sign in or register here
I would like to draw your attention to an open letter from the international secreteriat of the PSD (from January 18):
Dear friend,
In the last two days, the President of Romania and the Prime-Minister of Romania, on the grounds of the well-known tensions, have unprecedented accused each-other of corruption and affiliation to oligarchic groups. In front of this extremely severe crisis of complete institutional blockage and of confirmation of the fact that the right wing power in Bucharest is involved in cases of corruption at the highest level, the Standing Bureau of the Social Democratic Party has decided today, January 18, 2007, as follows:
- the starting of the suspension proceedings regarding the President of the Republic for actions of grave infringements of the Constitution
- the preparation of a censure motion which shall lead to the fall of the Tariceanu Government and to the identification of a solution of overcoming the severe political instability that constantly affected Romania in the last 2 years
Tomorrow, January, 19, 2007, the PSD leadership will organize an extraordinary meeting with the EU and NATO ambassadors accredited in Bucharest, for informing them about the PSD positions regarding the political crisis ongoing.
We will inform you in the next period with the evolutions in Bucharest and the position adopted by our party.
Thanking you for your friendship and solidarity,
Fraternally,
Cristian Diaconescu
PSD Vice-President
PSD Spokesperson
Victor Bostinaru
International Secretary -
AUSTRIA GETS NEW CHANCELLOR - 08-01-2007 16:39:20 - Only logged activists can post a comment, please sign in or register here
PRESS RELEASE
Party of European Socialists
8 January 2006
AUSTRIA GETS NEW CHANCELLOR WITH STRONG COMMITMENT TO SOCIAL JUSTICE
Commenting on the announcement today of a new Government in Austria led by Social Democrat Alfred Gusenbauer, Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, President of the Party of European Socialists, said
“The people of Austria voted last October for a fairer society and after months of waiting they will finally get a new Chancellor with a strong commitment to social justice. Alfred Gusenbauer is someone who has fought all his political career for better opportunities for ordinary people. He cares passionately about decent jobs, about good education, about quality public services.”
“I congratulate Alfred Gusenbauer. He has been the driving force in creating this new Government. If his coalition partners give him the chance he will be a progressive and capable driving force for a better and more inclusive Austria. ”
“Alfred Gusenbauer is also a committed European and I think we will see Austria increasingly engaged and active in Europe on jobs, economic growth and social justice.” -
Notes from the Congress - 19-12-2006 12:14:16 - Only logged activists can post a comment, please sign in or register here
Eric Sundström, PES activist from Sweden
(Find his regular blog with photos from the Congress here )
is writing about the Congress in Porto:
Friday, December 08, 2006
At the PES Congress in Porto
Porto seems to be a great city, even though I have not had time to be a tourist yet (I am staying for the weekend though). The PES Congress has been taking all my time, I have written a lot for AiP from here and one article is already online. Read more at the PES blog, and chez Jon Worth.
The best thing about the congress is all the people you run into. Many people whom I got to know through ECOSY, IUSY and PES-activities are here. Quite a few of us are not here on an ECOSY-mandate anymore; the “y” in ECOSY and IUSY stands for young…
Random observations: All the important decisions are taken elsewhere (by the PES leadership), but Margot Wallström spoke bravely about the need for stronger European parties. For the first team, PES-activists (grassroots from the member parties) are here, a great development that also brought more fringe events (i.e. seminars) with it. The looong speeches and biiiig panels you always have at these events varies a lot in quality (you know, all the big shots want to speak). But I just listened to Howard Dean of the DNC and legend Jacques Delors and they were both really inspiring. Ségolène Royal’s entry was that of a rock star, and she really deserves all our support, but she needs to deliver more in her speeches (read what Jon says).
But in all I think the PES is moving in the right direction, Poul Nyrup Rasmussen has done great job and will be reelected as our president today.
Wednesday, December 06, 2006
Time for PES Congress in Porto
I am just about to travel to Porto and the congress of the Party of European Socialists. I visited the last congress in Brussels in 2004 and had loads of fun, and I am confident this congress will be even better. Some 150 PES-activists (ordinary members of various socialists and social democratic parties) will participate this time, and that is a great development. The PES cannot only be a party for big shots in the different member parties. The activist-idea has been promoted by, for example, the president of the PES Poul Nyrup Rasmussen.
Thanks to a financial contribution from the Social Democratic Party, three members of PES Stockholm will travel to Porto (Shoresh Rahem, Karin Boman Röding and I). I am looking forward to two hectic days, but then Shoresh and I will hang around in Porto for the weekend. You can follow the congress here. -
A chance for France, for Europe and for the World? - 28-11-2006 14:51:29 - Only logged activists can post a comment, please sign in or register here
[This blog entry has been written by Carlos Moret, born in Argentina and living in Europe since more than 40 years. He became a PS member, seduced by the internal conviction of the party. Then he became a European citizen and joined PES activists with the intention "to contribute to the building of a strong PES for the best possible Europe we can dream of".]
A chance for France, for Europe and for the World.
France's PS elects it's presidential candidate.
On November 16th, France's Socialist activists elected Ségolène Royal it's presidential candidate for the coming elections in early 2007, by a landslide more than 60% vote.
For the first time, there is a public debate on the PS’s (France's Socialist Party) primary election.
For the first time, the PS opens itself in an effort to become closer to it's base. The number of activists almost doubled.
For the first time, the PS elects a woman candidate, mother of four, to become France's president.
The changes in the PS
The PS had been through troubled waters; firstly there was the april 2002 catastrophic defeat. Next came the referendum on the European Constitution which divided the party. Everything tended to make us think that we would be out of the race for decades.
In the Le Mans Congress Secretary General, François Hollande managed to to reunite the Party. The Party base was broadened; it was made easy and attractive for new activists to join. On the practical side, it became possible to join the party over the net, and the fee was lowered down to 20_€
The move was well timed, because it came at a moment in which there was a strong demand to participate, and once the conditions were given, new activists joined massively.
Several factors were behind this movement:
The French were traumatized by the previous presidential election in which the socialist candidate was eliminated in the first round, forcing us to vote for the centre right wing candidate on the second round in order to defeat the far right wing Front National candidate that had scored second. People understood that just voting on national elections was not enough, and, since a chance was given to us to act on the choice of our candidate, we could not miss it. Therefore we joined.
The actual Minister of Interior shows a clear right wing authoritarian tendency, and it is no secret he wants power and hence to run for president. The fear of having Mr. Sarkozy president prompted many PS sympathizers to join the Party to have a more active role in keeping him out of office.
A new figure appeared in the political scene, within the Socialist Party, who soon became very popular: Ségolène Royal, a woman, was not the classical politician, she was not a Party aparatchik.
What is so special about this election?
When the PS decided to open itself to a broader base, new activists swarmed. Most of them were left wing and had always voted left, but never took the step to join a party. The whole system did not attract them, it was not clear to see amongst the different rivalries, personal interests, inaccessible chieftains. Suddenly the PS opens its doors to us, asks us our opinion on the project by which we will govern the country, gives us a voice and a vote to choose our presidential candidate.
The vote is clear, more than 60% of the vote for a newcomer, the rest divided between the other two great leaders who had held office several times, one had been Prime Minister, the other held the economy portfolio.
Activists showed that they wanted change, a new way of making politics, and that not only new activists, but all of us.
What is so special about the elected candidate?
Ségolène Royal is no newcomer in politics, but she tended to keep a little on the side. She held office several times, but in those ministries often reserved for women: Environment (1992-1993), schooling (1997-2000), family (2000-2002). She never belonged to a current.
It is only when she ran for office in the Regional elections, and won in a traditional right-wing region that her style and dimension bloomed. She is currently President of the Region Poitou-Charentes and Congresswoman for Deux Sevres since 1988.
Apart of being a qualified person to govern, Ségolène Royal is a woman, mother of four. She dresses as a woman, talks as a woman, thinks as a woman, acts as a woman, and that is new in politics.
Whilst perfectly integrated within a representative democracy, she seeks to give as much place to participative democracy as possible. She is a very good listener that considers that the people know best what is good for them.
Another difference with traditional politicians is that Ségolène is not afraid of speaking clearly, and plainly. She is not afraid of bringing up those subjects that are taboo., neither to back up if she realizes she is wrong.
She speaks to, and listens to everybody, regardless of their social level, origin, age etc. in short, she communicates.
Mme Royale adresses the subjects the majority of the people are concerned with ; equality, which starts with school, the environment, security, employment.
In 2008 France will have the rotating presidency of the EU, and hopefully Mme. Royal will be the President. Europe is stalled - in part maybe because of the French No - hopefully in 2008 the EU will be on it's wheels again, with France up to what is expected of her! -
International Secretary Social Democrats, SLOVENIA: Local election results - 27-11-2006 14:59:51 - Only logged activists can post a comment, please sign in or register here
Information on the Local Elections in Slovenia
In November 2006 local elections took place in 210 Slovene municipalities to elect mayors under the majority system and municipal councillors under the proportional system. The election turnout was 58.22%.
In the Social Democrats we are quite satisfied with election results. We managed to consolidate our position as the third most powerful political party in the country, turn the party's success trend upwards for the first time, significantly reduce our distance from both leading parties and win 105 new seats in municipal councils (from 282 to 387) as compared to the 2002 elections.
The results of municipal council elections were as follows:
Political Party: % votes 2006
LDS ( Liberal Democracy of Slovenia): 14,95
SDS ( Slovene Democratic Party): 16,75
SD (Social Democrats): 11,98
SLS (Slovene People’s Party): 9,40
NSI ( New Slovenia - Christian People's Party): 6,33
DESUS (Democratic Party of Retired People of Slovenia): 5,24
SMS (Party of Slovenia's Youth): 2,21
SNS ( Slovenian National Party): 2,46
AS (Active Slovenia): 1,58
Independent and non-party lists, others: 29,10
These were the first elections following the victory of the centre-right coalition led by the SDS (Slovene Democratic Party) at the last general elections in 2004 and many people anticipated a major predominance of the governing coalition parties at the local level too. However, apart from the rise of the governing SDS, none of the other centre-right coalition parties (SLS, NSi, Desus) won more votes than four years ago. Among opposition parties the Social Democrats were the only ones whose voter support grew.
While we can be very satisfied with the result of elections for municipal councillors, we were slightly less victorious than expected in mayoral elections. In the overall number of mayors we still have a similar number as four years ago, but on the other hand our candidates in both largest cities, Ljubljana and Maribor, failed to win another term. In other cities the party managed to maintain or even strengthen its position. As for the capital, we saw a unique case of an extremely resounding victory by an independent candidate and his candidate list, who managed to beat practically all political parties. He was also sucessful in convincing the left-right oriented electorate, which still has a majority in the capital, by promoting a programme and values close to our own electorate. Such results are an important warning for the activity of our party over the next two years until the general elections.
Let me also mention two important features characteristic of the last elections and, in our view, of the broader trends in Europe as well.
The first characteristic is the growing distrust in political parties reflected in the higher number of councillors and mayors elected from among non-aligned and independent candidates and candidate lists. For all parties, and in particular for the left ones, this fact is important both in the planning of day-to-day activities and in devising our strategies.
The second characteristic is the upsurge of extremely aggressive and intolerant election campaign of some, generally independent candidates and candidate lists supported by the capital and right parties. This was the first time Slovenia saw a negative campaign of this extent, since despite all circumstances we always managed to preserve an appropriate level of political culture in election debates so far. Regrettably, we believe this too is a reflection of the present coalition's activity and some of its acts and measures as well as tolerance of aggressive behaviour among its members.
Nevertheless, we, the Social Democrats are planning our activities for 2008 with optimism; our intention is to present an alternative government programme and compete as an alternative to the present governing coalition. -
Election Results from the Dutch general elections - 23-11-2006 17:58:21 - Only logged activists can post a comment, please sign in or register here
Nils Wörner: I have received an analysis about the Dutch general elections from the PvdA international secretary Marije Laffeber:
Dear friends,
Yesterday parliamentary elections were held in the Netherlands.
Unfortunately the results were disappointing for the Dutch Labour Party (PvdA). Compared with the last parliamentary elections, held in 2003, the PvdA lost over 20% of it’s seats in parliament.
Despite a small loss (of 2,4%), the Christian Democrats of prime-minister Balkenende remained the biggest party.
The big winner of yesterday elections is the Socialist Party (SP). The party won 17 seats (went up from 9 seats in 2003 to 26 seats in 2006)
The turn-out was reasonably fine. 80,7% of the Dutch voters casted their votes, compared with 80,6% in 2003. Yesterdays results:
Christian Democrats – CDA
conservative
27,6% 41 seats
Social Democrats - PvdA
left
20,7% 32 seats
Liberals – VVD right
14,6% 22 seats
Socialist Party –SP
left
16,2% 26 seats
List Fortuyn
right
0,2% 0 seats
Green Left
left
4% 7 seats
Democrats - D66
1,7% 3 seats
Christian Union
conservative
4,3% 6 seats
Conservative Protestants – SGP conservative
1,8% 2 seats
Freedom Party – PvdV
right
6,1% 9 seats
One NL
right
0,7% 0 seats
Party for animal rights – PvdD
single issue
1,8% 2 seats
It’s necessary to form a coalition (at least 50%, which is at least 75 seats in parliament) in order to form a government. The Christian Democrats remained the biggest party in the Netherlands, so
Mr Balkenende will get the lead to form a new government. It won’t be possible for the former government coalition to continue: CDA, the Liberals and the Democrats of D66 no longer have a majority in parliament.
This means that the CDA will have to look for other alternatives. The results show that the Dutch voters are in favour of a ‘more social’ government lead by the Christian Democrats. The most likely option now is that Balkenende starts coalition talks with the Socialist Party and the Social Democrats. The expectation is that the negotiations won’t be easy and could take some months time.
We’ll keep you posted.
With fraternal regards,
Marije Laffeber
International secretary &
2nd vice-chair PvdA executive
The Netherlands -
From MEP MAREK SIWIEC - 22-11-2006 17:17:44 - Only logged activists can post a comment, please sign in or register here
Campaigning in Poland
DIVERSITY YES INTOLERANCE NO
Almost 500 participants took part in the third March for Equality, which was held on November 18th in Poznan. Because of its opponents March
was not able to be completed for the first time in 2004, as well as for the second time in 2005, when it was called illegal.
The protesters marched along the city`s main streets to express their anxiety for lack of tolerance existing in Poland.
To show a support for the march and join Party of European Socialist activity DIVERSITYYES INTOLERANCENO members of the Youth Social
Democratic Left Federation and PES sympathizers took part in demonstration holding banners depicting signs designed by PES.
Marek Siwiec, who is the promoter of Poznan action, would like the activity DIVERSITYYES INTOLERANCENO to be spread all over the
Wielkopolska, which is his constituency. The reports from the March for Equality were broadcasted in all of the Polish TV news.
Pictures from demonstration are presented here . -
Polish local elections - 14-11-2006 16:01:34 - Only logged activists can post a comment, please sign in or register here
Nils Wörner: Today I am publishing a communication about the outcome of the Polish local elections. It reached me from Marek Siwiec - Head of the national delegation to the PSE in the EP, SLD
Local Elections in Poland - a brief summary
The recent local elections to a large extent have mobilized Polish voters - turnout was the highest in history reaching 45,86 %.
These elections were clearly a popularity test for the government and they failed.
Last Sunday Poles were voting for regional, city and communal councils as well as for cities' mayors (presidents).
The results: In principle, although this varies on the level of the elections, Civic Platform (PO) has won the elections, second was Law and Justices (PIS) - Kaczynski brothers' party, the third came left wing coalition "Left and Democrats".
PO came first in the regional, city, and communal councils in the largest cities. Together with other opposition parties, even those being outside of the Polish Parliament, have reached more than 50 % of the vote.
PIS came first in the regional and communal councils with 16-18 % of support in the province - countryside and little towns. But the combined effort by anti-government parties there reached above 30%.
The two other ruling coalition parties - populist Self-Defence (Lepper's party) and ultra catholic and nationalistic League of Polish Families (Giertych's party) have been widely defeated. It seems it is the beginning of marginalization of these populist and extreme forces on the Polish political scene. In a substantial number both parties did not managed to pass a threshold.
As for the elections of mayors (presidents) in the largest Polish cities - the incumbent ones, running independently have been elected in the first round reaching more than 50 % of the popular vote. Apart from Warsaw and Szczecin the choices made by the voters were clearly non-political.
Conclusions/ performance of the left wing coalition "Left and Democrats":
- According to all the commentaries/ and results - after these local elections the united left has been clearly established as the third force on the Polish political scene. The Polish Left is back in the serious game.
- We are an attractive political partner for the future coalition before the second round of elections in those largest cities, where the elections of the mayor (president) are still pending.
- We do have a chance of building coalitions in many regional councils throughout the country.
- Marek Borowski's (SDPL leader) result of 23 % in the run for Warsaw's mayor is of great significance.
- The gain of vote by the "Left and Democrats" in comparison to the performance of the particular parties creating today's left wing coalition in the last parliamentary elections varies depending on the region.
- Neither League of Polish Families nor Self-Defence managed to have a single member in the city council of Warsaw.
- League of Polish Families candidate for the mayor of Warsaw received 0,3 % of the popular vote. -
Open Letter from PN Rasmussen to EPP President Wilfried Martens - 26-10-2006 15:15:52 - Only logged activists can post a comment, please sign in or register here
Open Letter from PN Rasmussen to EPP President Wilfried Martens
24 October 2006.
Dear Wilfried Martens,
This week marks the 50th anniversary of the Hungarian uprising. You hardly need me to remind you that it marks the turning of the tide against Stalinism – and communism. It was a heroic resistance by the Hungarian people that changed history. The world remembers with gratitude and admiration the people who took part in that courageous uprising. It is due to their bravery, and revolutions in other former Soviet-bloc countries, that 50 years later they could form part of a free, democratic European Union.
You traveled to Budapest to take part in the commemorations. However, you did not take part in the official commemorations organized by the democratically elected government – you took part in an anti-Government rally organised by Viktor Orban. At the very least is it extremely poor taste to use the 50th anniversary of 1956 uprising to support an anti-Government rally. At worst it is undermining Hungarian democracy.
You are quoted in the media as having said that “The present Hungarian upheaval is caused by one man”. Itmay be one man Mr Martens, but which one? There is a very strong case for arguing that the real offender is Mr Orban, whose invitation to a street rally you unwisely accepted. Mr Orban refused to take part in a Parliamentary vote of confidence in the Government, he issued an ultimatum for the resignation of the Prime Minister, and at the rally you attended he described the current Government as “illegitimate”. These are not
the actions of a responsible leader of a Parliamentary opposition. He gives the world the impression of simply refusing to accept the outcome of the last general election.
It alarms me that the EPP is actively supporting him. It is beyond dispute that the Hungarian Government was legitimately elected. Mr Orban is pushing the boundaries of democratic politics to their absolute limit. A recent editorial in the LA Times describes the current situation in Hungary as an “anti-democratic revolution”.
I am loath to be that dramatic Mr Martens but there is a genuine worry that Mr Orban is trying to push the situation in that direction. You ought to be preaching caution, not accepting invitations from Mr Orban to street demonstrations.
As if the situation in Hungary were not serious enough, the wider context is also profoundly worrying.
Populist extremism is on the rise across Europe. Mainstream parties on the left and right should be working together to defeat extremism. They are certainly trying to do so in your country of Belgium Mr Martens with the ‘cordon sanitaire’ supported by EPP and PES member parties. The PES has recently sent a very clear
political message by suspending our Slovak member party SMER for entering a coalition with extreme nationalists SNS. So why are you supporting Fidesz in their populist campaign to oust a legitimately elected Government? What message does this send to your member parties and to populist extremists across Europe? You are blowing the horn of populism and nationalism by appearing to support anti-democratic street demonstrators which include in their midst Hungarian neo-Nazis. Are you fully aware who is in the chorus you are singing with Mr Martens?
Please Mr Martens, think again. I know you are a honest and genuine democrat, but the game you are playing in Hungary is a disgrace and even worse - very dangerous for Hungary and for the rest of Europe.
Poul Nyrup Rasmussen
President of the Party of European Socialists -
Contribution of the PES Lisbon network to the tripartite social summit on flexicurity - 20-10-2006 09:48:41 - Only logged activists can post a comment, please sign in or register here
The PES Lisbon network, chaired by the former German Finance Minister, Hans Eichel met in Helsinki together with the Socialist and Social Democrat Employment and Social Affairs Ministers and recommends the following:
- A good system of unemployment benefits, coupled with strong active labour market policies, in a clear framework of rights and duties.
- Facilitating active job seeking by the unemployed, with the support of the Social Partners and employment services.
- A comprehensive system of child and elderly care.
- Public policies to ensure the reconciliation of work and family life.
- Access to education and lifelong training for those in-work and for those out-of-work;
- Public policies promoting flexibility and security to encourage active ageing and eliminate age discrimination.
- Policies which aim at facilitating mobility, to take account of the regional dimension.
- Full involvement of the Social Partners in designing and implementing policies both at the macro and micro levels. Social Partners should reach labour agreements that cover issues such as wages, and productivity along with training, life long learning and innovation. The Lisbon goals and the achievement a knowledge based economy should be the driving force behind such agreements.
Both the European Union and Members States must take account of all of these elements of flexicurity to define clear and objective principles for flexicurity. Social democrats do not pledge for a “one size fits all” model, but believe that welfare and labour market reforms must be based on clear goals in a common direction. The open method of coordination may also play a role as it can allow for the development of “cross-border flexicurity initiatives”, for example within the scope of increasing mobility. -
An Update on recent European election results - 09-10-2006 19:14:08 - Only logged activists can post a comment, please sign in or register here
Entry from Nils Wörner:
An Update on recent election results in Europe
Austria's Social Democrats (SPÖ) with their leader Alfred Gusenbauer scored a victory over the ruling conservatives in the national elections on October 1st 2006. The conservatives had run the country in a controversial alliance with the far right since 2000. In one of the tightest election battles in decades, the SPÖ took 35.7 percent of the vote, receiving 68 seats in the 183-member parliament. PES activists congratulate the SPÖ for this great victory! Read the PES press release on the Austrian elections.
At September 23, Toomas Hendrik Ilves from the social democratic SDE, former member of the European Parliament, was elected to be the fourth President of Estonia . Ilves formerly served twice as Estonian Foreign Minister, and before that as Ambassador to the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Ilves will begin his five-year term in October. Read the congratulations letter from PES president PN Rasmussen.
The Swedish national elections on September 17 resulted in a defeat for the Swedish SAP. The Social Democratic Party has received only 35 percent of the votes – the worst result for the party in any election since 1914. The main center-right party, Moderaterna, earned 26 percent of the votes – the best result for the party since 1928. In total, the three leftwing parties received about 46 percent of the votes combined, compared to 48 percent in total for the four parties that make up the center-right alliance.
An alarming strategy has been chosen by the center-right parties: In the last election, they were trounced after campaigning on the idea that Sweden was overtaxed. This time they decided that it can't overthrow Swedish socialism - it can just say it will make it run better. So they pretended during their campaign that they would be more social than the socialists and regrettably they had success with the strategy.
The local elections at October 8 in Belgium brought a very good result to both PS (Socialist Walloon Party) and SPA (Flemish Socialist Party), one of the major victories being obtained by the latter. Indeed, in Antwerp SPA surpassed the Vlaams Belang (Flemish Pride) and got 35,2% of the votes. This is a great progression compared to the 20%, the Spa obtained in 2000. It marks the end of the escalade of the far-right party Vlams Belang, which was up until then the leading party in the second most important Belgium city. Moreover, in the center of Brussels, the Socialist Party has recovered eight seats and became the first political force downtown. -
Do we exist - 03-10-2006 16:43:30 - Only logged activists can post a comment, please sign in or register here
[This blog entry has been written by Carlos Moret, born in Argentina and living in Europe since more than 40 years. He became a PS member, seduced by the internal conviction of the party. Then he became a European citizen and joined PES activists with the intention "to contribute to the building of a strong PES for the best possible Europe we can dream of".]
Carlos' open letter to PES activists:
Do we exist ?
I joined the PS (French socialist party) because I have the right to vote for the person who will represent our Party in the next presidential election, that is to say, I hope, I will be voting for France’s next president and Europe’s president for 6 months, some very important 6 months in 2008.
When I joined the PES, I was asked which was my National Party. I’m happy to have joined the French PS, but, why can’t I be a PES activist without being member of a National Party ? I’m a European Citizen because I am a French Citizen, I can't be a European Citizen without being a citizen of one of the 25 member states, does that apply to party memberships too ? You don’t have to be a French Citizen to be a member of the French PS. Why can't one join the PES without joining a member national party?
Many questions arise on what the PES is, or what we want the PES to be. Many problems arise that I’m not aware of, but let’s start by what we want, what makes the unanimity amongst PES activists.
_ We want a real Europe, a strong Europe, a leader in our globalized world, to make it a humane world.
_ We do not want a centralized Europe, but we need a European Government which we don't have yet.
_ We want :
_ A President
_ A Minister of Foreign Affairs.
_ An Economy Minister ?
_ A Defense Minister ?
_ An Environment Minister ?
_ A Finance Minister ?
_ A Social Affairs Minister ?
In short, Commissioners are to become ministers from an elected government..
On some of these points we are not unanimous, and I do not want to enter the discussion whether a Federal Europe or a Europe of Nations, although if we are to weigh in world politics, it seems to me that the only possible Europe is a united one that speaks of one voice, that is to say a Federal one. How much is to be decided in Brussels and how much in each of the capitals of Member States is a question of degree. Both the decisions taken in Brussels and in the Capitals of Member States should be taken by representative governments, which is not the case with Brussels.
If we want the people of Europe to believe in Europe, we have to have an elected executive, an elected parliament and a functioning judicial system. So far we don’t feel the EU Commission to be our government, and our Parliament seems too far away from us.
Why is our parliament « foreign » ? Although the Parliament is gaining in power, it still is not enough ; decisions do not come from the Parliament. Only once we have what is being called transnational lists, but what I prefer to call « European lists » will we feel our Parliament represents us Europeans. In practice, on European elections, most people vote according to the results of their National Government, at least that is the case in France. The only way to achieve a sense of belonging is to have our European Parliamentary elections with a campaign coming from our European Political Parties, which means for us, having a strong PES.
I can see some reasons for the PES to be almost inexistent in the common citizen’s mind.
_ We are too young.
_ We are too few activists.
_ We have no funding.
_ We aren’t democratic enough.
1-We are too young. We can do nothing about it, maybe work hard and catch up for lost time.
2-We are too few activists. We must make ourselves known and try to get our fellow national activists to feel concerned about Europe and join. It's so easy, a few clicks at the right place, not a penny to pay.
3-We have no funding. This in fact I know nothing about, other than the fact that the European Budget is a scandal. I suppose we have to fight for a budget up to what European ambitions are, and then have Brussels fund the European Parties. I believe it is the case of France.
__ We aren’t democratic enough. If we are to reverse the trend of the lack of involvement of citizens in wealthy nations in general, and we can achieve that giving grassroots activists a bigger role. The French PS doubled the number of activists by giving activists the right to vote for their candidate. It is a complicated matter, but I'm sure we can find a way.
Through the bloggers corner, we have a chance to put forward our ideas, it’s wonderful and I’ll try to make good use of that chance. Please join me! This is a first step.
Let’s talk things over, debate them, let’s try to come to know each other, let’s try to add another brick to this wonderful building Europe is.
I understand that the culture of the different member parties is not the same. Words take different meanings in different countries. "Social Democrat" is almost an insult amongst certain Socialists in France; isn't that ridiculous? So I invite us PES activists to exchange ideas, explain what a word means here or there, come forward with national worries, get to know each other.
And, by writing this, I wish to create a debate on which is our place within the PES as activists and to get to know activists from other countries. We are only 1500 or did I get that wrong?
Carlos Moret
carlosmoret@free.fr
| < | November 2008 | > | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| M | T | W | T | F | S | S |
| 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 1- | 2- |
| 3- | 4- | 5- | 6- | 7- | 8- | 9- |
| 10- | 11- | 12- | 13- | 14- | 15- | 16- |
| 17- | 18- | 19- | 20- | 21- | 22- | 23- |
| 24- | 25- | 26- | 27- | 28- | 29- | 30- |
-
-
contact us
-
sitemap
-
contact us
-
sitemap
© PSE - Terms of use and privacy policy - About
With the financial support of the European Parliament