Socialist leaders agree way forward for Europe

24 June 2005

Socialist and Social Democratic Party Leaders meeting in Vienna today at the Council of the Party of European Socialists agreed three actions to take Europe out of crisis.

The Leaders agreed to:
Develop a new growth and investment strategy for Europe, aimed at achieving higher economic growth and more and better jobs;
Organise a people’ conversation about the future of Europe, listening to the citizens and discussing with them their wishes for the future;
Draft a new and ambitious common vision for Social Europe – modernizing social protection policies on the basis of common values of solidarity, social justice and shared prosperity.

“It was the social democrats and socialists that created Europe’s post war welfare states and it is social democrats and socialist that will create the new European social model for the 21st century” said Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, President of the Party of European Socialists. “It is the Party of European Socialists that can make competitiveness and social security compatible in order to ensure a decent, secure future for citizens in the new globalized economy.”

The new growth and investment strategy will be based on proactive investment and progressive structural reforms. A draft strategy will be put to PES Leaders and Prime Ministers at their Autumn Leaders’ conference.

The people’s conversation will take place in all member states – not just in Brussels and will be driven by PES national parties and co-ordinated by the PES. Further decisions on the Peoples conversation will be taken in September.

Work on the common vision for Social Europe will start now and will be concluded next year at the PES Congress – the biggest and most important of all PES gatherings.

Political Leaders present included Hungarian Prime Minsister Ferenc Gyurcsany, Deputy Prime Ministers of UK and Luxembourg John Prescott and Jean Asselborn, Party Leaders Alfred Gusenbauer (Austria), Elio Di Rupo (Belgium), Yannakis Omirou (Cyprus), Stanislav Gross (Czech Rep), Helle Thorning-Schmidt (Denmark), Eero Heinaluoma (Finland), Francois Hollande (France), George Papandreou (Greece), Laszlo Kapolyi (Hungary), Pat Rabitte (Ireland), Piero Fassino (Italy), Juris Bojars (Latvia), Algidas Andriukaitis (Lithuania), Wouter Bos (Netherlands), Wojciech Olejniczak (Poland), Mircea Geoana (Romania), Robert Fico (Slovakia), Borut Pahor (Slovenia) plus European Commissioners Gunther Verheugen and Vladimir Spidla, and President of the European Parliament Josep Borrell.

More information: Julian Scola, PES Press Officer, mob +32 486 117 394