Welcoming Gordon Brown’s call for a strengthened European growth strategy and more help for eastern European economies facing special difficulties, published today in the Financial Times, PES President Poul Nyrup Rasmussen said “Gordon Brown has opened up an enormously important debate in the European Council and just ahead of the European elections. Sarkozy and Merkel must now respond. They can’t seriously continue to pretend that Europe has done enough.”
“Europe needs a new recovery plan including new help for those economies facing special difficulties. There must be solidarity for countries without sufficient means to get out of the crisis on their own. European conservatives may have fought off Brown and Obama’s calls for a new recovery effort at the G20, but they did agree to take more action if it was necessary. With unemployment now set to hit 27 million next year we have at least 27 million reasons why more action is needed.”
“By committing himself to working for a more focused Europe-wide strategy for growth ahead of the June Council, Gordon Brown is reminding his fellow leaders what ought to be top of the agenda at the Summit in June. While there are so many unemployed this must be Europe’s number one priority. Nothing else should take centre stage.”
Two weeks ago Spanish Socialist Prime Minister José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero announced a new jobs stimulus which Rasmussen said showed the way for Europe.
“It is social democrats and socialists who are leading the efforts to create a strong European and international recovery while conservatives are just waiting and hoping for the best” Rasmussen said today.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Julian Scola, Communications Advisor - Media & Campaigns
Party of European Socialists, Rue du Trône, 98, B-1050 Brussels
Mobile +32 486 117 394
julian.scola@pes.org
