PES Newsletter n°13 – October 2006
Diversity YES Intolerance NO
Are you worried by the rise of the far right? Sign our Declaration for Diversity and Tolerance. Please spread the word – ask your friends to join this European-wide action against intolerance and hatred.
Chancellor Gusenbauer?
Congratulations to the Austrian Social Democrats for their election victory! After two terms in opposition, the SPÖ led by Alfred Gusenbauer defeated Schussels’s conservative Government by campaigning on the Issues that matter to Austrian people - education, health and social divisions. With the far right getting over 15 per cent of the vote, it is clear that Schussel’s strategy of trying bring the extreme right into the mainstream has failed.
President of the people …of Estonia
Socialist MEP and PES Presidency member Toomas Ilves has been elected President of Estonia. Toomas Ilves, a founding member of the Estonian Social Democratic Party and former Foreign Minister, played a decisive role in Estonia joining the European Union and NATO.
SMER suspended from PES
The Presidency of the Party of European Socialists decided to suspend the membership of Slovakian Party SMER from the Party of European Socialists for entering a Government coalition with extreme nationalists SNS.
PES President Poul Nyrup Rasmussen said “It is with a heavy heart that the PES must suspend SMER from our political family. But basic political principles cannot be sacrificed. The PES does not believe that its member parties can enter Government at any price. Slovakia needs social democracy, but not at the cost of compromising with extreme nationalism and xenophobia.”
The PES Presidency will reassess the situation in June 2007.
Invitation: Come to Congress...
The biggest European-wide socialist and social democratic gathering takes place on December 7-8 when the PES holds its Congress in Porto. Grassroots party members – PES activists – are invited alongside official party delegates for two days of plenary debates and fringe meetings, with stands and exhibitions from a wide variety of progressive organizations. Find out more about PES Congress.
In defence of parental leave!
PES President Poul Nyrup Rasmussen teamed up with the President of PES Women, Zita Gurmai, in urging the European Commission to examine the legislation and propose the necessary changes to ensure that women do not suffer pay discrimination as a result of taking maternity leave.
Reporting from the Middle East 
Can the EU help revive the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and rebuild Lebanon into a stable and independent nation? Read the assessment of Poul Nyrup Rasmussen and Jean Asselborn in their report to PES Foreign Ministers of their mission to the Middle East.
PES – a friend in a Hungarian storm
The PES has stood solidly behind the Hungarian Socialist Party and Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany while populist opposition leaders tried to bring down the Socialist Government with violent demonstrations in scenes that were an obscene parody of past heroic struggles for freedom.
“New Social Europe” blueprint taking shape
Cornerstone policies and principles for revitalizing Social Europe are beginning to take shape following the closing conference of the PES’ ambitious “New Social Europe” initiative.
PM answers PES activists questions
Prime minister of Bulgaria and leader of the Bulgarian socialist party – Sergei Stanishev – answers PES activists questions about his country’s accession to the EU.
PES Women
A PES Women meeting earlier this month in Helsinki with PES Ministers responsible for gender equality resolved to support the highest possible budget for ‘Daphne III’ – the EU programme to counter violence against women. “It is the most fundamental right to live without violence, yet violence in the home still ruins the lives of far too many women across Europe“ said Zita Gurmai, President of PES Women
