100 posts
Eurocrisis, Democratic Deficit and the Re:New Conference
Throughout the Re:New Conference references were made to that most European of monsters: Merkozy. Yesterday Sarkozy spoke, and today Merkel has spoken in the Bundestag about Europe and the Eurozone. While European integration - and a new treaty - was...
Re:New: Europarties and Primaries
When I wrote about the Re:New conference and the lack of policy at the PES level on Friday, I wanted to find out more about the Europarty and how things are done. Luckly there was a workshop on Transnational parties on Saturday, which I attended (ann...
PES challenges other Europarties in 2014 EP elections
The Party of European Socialists intends to field a candidate for the presidency of the EU Commission in the elections to the European Parliament in 2014. The nomination and selection procedure is going to be based on ”consultation” of the member...
Re:New Conference in Brussels - Renewal for the European left?
The plight of the European left is well known by now: despite the victory in Denmark a few months ago, the left has lost Spain, and now doesn't hold any of the 6 major Member States (the big 3 plus Italy, Spain and Poland). So does it have the abilit...
PES candidate for EU Commission president through ”consultation”
The Party of European Socialists (PES) has taken a step forward with regard to the next elections to the European Parliament, by adopting a resolution on the selection of the PES candidate for president of the European Commission: PES Resolution: Se...
PES Council 2011 adopts selects resolution
PES Council has just adopted major resolution establishing democratic selection process to choose PES candidate for President of the European Commission at next Euro-elections.Process will be open and democratic but flexible for national parties to c...
PES from Poul Nyrup Rasmussen to European Parliament elections 2014
For European level democracy to get off the starting blocks, the Europarties (political parties at European level) need to get going. The Progressive Convention of the Party of European Socialists (PES) meets in Brussels 25-26 November 2011 to discus...
The day Martin Schulz forgot to vote
Yesterday Martin Schulz, leader of the centre-left Socialists and Democrats (S&D) group in the European Parliament (EP), formally announced his candidacy for President of the EP. In turn, Joseph Daul, leader of the rival European People’s P...
On the Democratic Deficit: European Commission tells Greenpeace to Sod Off, Socialists to pick candidate for 2014
The folks at Greenpeace can never be accused of a lack of voluntarism. The Lisbon Treaty, in one of its mostly weak attempts to improve democratic legitimacy, created provisions for a citizens’ petition: if 1 million signatures from around Euro...
Conversations with ourselves
Last week there was a PES (Party of European Socialists [centre-left]) conference in Warsaw, not that it made much media impact. Even EUobserver, which is dedicated to EU news and politics, was so taken up by the Wikileaks story that it simply didn't...
"A Fundamental Programme for the PES" by SEJ
Our partners from the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung have just released a very interesting paper on the need for a fundamental programme for the PES. The main points are: The economic, social and environmental challenges of the twenty-first century tran- s...
"A Social Democratic Political Economy" by John Weeks
Watch Professor John Weeks discuss the key elements of a social democratic political economy with Social Europe Journal.
Tariq Ali on the British labour movement: a study in voluntarism
All serious socialists are looking with admiration at the militancy of our French sisters and brothers. And most of us are frustrated with the weakness (to date) of the response of the British unions to the cuts. But Tariq Ali, a commentator who even...
"A culture war between the Guardian-Left and the Tabloid-Left" by Rene Cuperus
’It’s the immigration, stupid’. That was in few words my response to the analysis ‘Why Labour lost the elections’. Last week I was in London at the Policy Network launch of Southern Discomfort Again, a smart pamphlet written by Gil...
nonfiction.fr comments on Campaign for a PES Primary
nonfiction.fr carried a further article on Wednesday on the progress of the Campaign for a PES Primary. In an article entitled, "Primaires européennes: début d'une mise sur agenda politique?" or "European Primary: beginning of a political agenda-se...
Ana Gomes supports the PES Primary
The Campaign for a PES Primary is thrilled to report that support coming from MEPs of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament continues at great rhythm. Today Ana Gomes, Portuguese MEP from the ‘Partido Soci...
Zgonea (VP PSD, Romania) declares his support for Campaign.
I met Valeriu Ștefan Zgonea of the Romanian Social Democratic Party last Thursday at the PES meeting of the "Network on Modernising Politics" that discussed how the PES would select our candidate for the next Presidency of the European Commission. V...
Moscovici comments on the Campaign
Pierre Moscovici (Parti Socialiste France) has been National Secretary of the socialist party (PS) since 1995, minister for European affairs between 1997 and 2002, and member of the Assemblée Nationale since 2007. He successfully campaigned in favou...
Labour goes left(er): Ed Miliband new British opposition leader
He has edged out his older brother and former foreign secretary David to become leader of the British labour party. The 40-year-old’s victory - on the party's left - means a change in direction for Labour, write the Danish, Dutch, Spanish and Irish...
European Social Democracy: The Path Back To Power (what the panellists should have said)
I’ve just sat through a largely uninspiring panel at Labour Conference entitled “European Social Democracy: The Path Back To Power”, organised by FEPS and EPLP. Roger Liddle chaired in his charming but rather bumbling manner, and th...
MEPs begin to support PES Primary campaign
The Campaign for a PES Primary is delighted to report that MEPs of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament have begun to join the campaign. The first three MEPs to signal their support for more democracy in the...
1,700 people say YES to PES Primaries
1,700 people say YES to more democracy in EuropeFollowing the successful visit that the Campaign made to Brussels last week we are very proud to announce this morning that membership of our Facebook Campaign page has soared past 1,700 supporters. Tha...
22 Sept: meeting with sister parties in Brussels
Desmond O'Toole was the principal speaker at a meeting of representatives of PES sister parties in Brussels on the 22nd September. The meeting was called to discuss the Campaign for a PES Primary and was ably moderated by Nicole Fondeneige (Parti Soc...
Over 1,600 Supporters on Facebook
1,600 people say more democracy in EuropeOn the day that the Campaign for a PES Primay came to Brusels, we are delighted to announce that we have soared past 1,600 members on our Facebook campaign group.
Financial Times Deutschland covers the campaign
The following article was carried in the Financial Times Deutschland this morning. It arose from an interview I gave when I arrived in Brussels yesterday and dicusses both the Campaign for a PES Primary as well as the likelihood that other European p...
Campaign arrives in Brussels
Campaign organisers, Desmond O'Toole and José Reis Santos will be speaking at events in Brussels tomorrow evening (Wednesday 22 September) on the Campaign for a PES Primary.1. PES activists On-line ConferenceThis is part of a series of broadcast con...
The End of the Swedish Social Model?
The success of the Sweden Democrats in the national elections contributes to the advance of the far-right across the EU, and perhaps it shows that Swedish citizens acting alone can no longer achieve their expectations for a better society. No relat...
The Trend Continues – Social Democrats also lose in Sweden
The news is just breaking that in the Swedish elections the social democrats headed by Mona Sahlin have continued the European trend and have suffered a bitter defeat. Even though the social democratic party still commands the largest share of the vo...
Add a twibbon to your Facebook or Twitter profile
I just supported the Campaign for a PES Primary by adding a sticker to my profile picture. Get the sticker and show your support now at twibbon stickers. This is a really good way to show your support in the week that we will be making our presentati...
Over 1,500 supporters now on Facebook
Over 1,500 supporters from all across Europe have now joined our Facebook campaign page. That puts us over half-way to our first main target of 3,000 supporters. It's great news and an indication of how important so many progressive citizens view the...
PES Leaders write to the Campaign
Poul Nyrup Rasmussen and Philip CorderyPoul Nyrup Rasmussen (PES President) and Philip Cordery (PES Secretary General) have written a joint letter to the organisers of the Campaign for a PES Primary. Their letter came in response to letters written b...
Over 200 supporters gained in last two days
That's 1,300 supporters who have now joined the Campaign for a PES Primary. We are well on our way to the half-way mark and we are so grateful to everyone for their solidarity and good wishes.We also received formal confirmation from the PES head off...
Alegeri preliminare in PES, acum!
PES activists in Romania have been campaigning very strongly amongst their members for a democratic selection process to choose the PES candidate for European Commission President in 2014. Almost 20% of the supporters for our Facebook campaign are me...
Becoming a Reality – A Basic Values Programme for European Social Democracy
Right, I have now heard twice in a day that indeed it now is the time. It now is the time when the Party of European Socialists (PES) is serious about giving itself a basic values programme rather than just a series of mostly watered down election ma...
Six weeks to gain 3,000 to 5,000 supporters. Yes, it really is that important.
Many thanks to you for all of your support for the Campaign for a PES Primary and for helping us to reach over 1,000 supporters on Facebook. In less than six weeks we have attracted the support of PES activists, public representatives and progress...
PES website blogs the Campaign for a PES Primary
The campaign is delighted to report that the official PES website (www.pes.org) is now carrying a blog article describing the Campaign for a PES Primary. This is not OFFICIAL support for our campaign, but it does show the seriousness and credibility...
Pelas primárias para escolher o candidato do PES a Presidente da Comissão Europeia
A Portuguese language blog, Loja de Ideias, has picked up news of the Campaign for a PES Primary. The blog article reads:Como sabem (e se não sabem, ficam a saber) está a haver um debate no seio do PES (Partido Europeu Socialista) sobre como decid...
European Tribune discusses PES Primaries
Luis de Sousa, writing in European Tribune, has this to say about the Campaign for a PES Primary:"For the first time in my life I'm considering registering with a political party. Why? Because of an initiative that has the potential to completely cha...
Campaign now mentioned on Wikipedia!
It is only a small entry, which I am sure will grow as this campaign begins to deliver, but the Wikipedia entry on Elections in the European Union, has this to say on the Campaign for a PES Primary:"The Socialists, disappointed at the 2009 election,...
Other media republishing articles on our campaign
A number of other news organisations have begun republishing news articles first carried in euobserver.com and EurActiv.com (including the erroneous reporting by EurActiv of independent Ralf Grahn's political affiliation). Here are some of the more p...
Après le PS Français, les primaires en Europe?
David Chopin (27roses.eu and PS Paris) has drawn our attention to a French language news and review site that is commenting on the Campaign for a PES Primary. David describes the article as, "Quel article passionnant ! quel auteur avisé ! très bon...
1.000 supporters on Facebook ... WOW!
Thanks to all of your efforts we have now attracted 1,000 supporters to our Facebook page. This is truly extraordinary. It is less than six weeks since José and I launched the Campaign for a PES Primary and in this short time we have attracted massi...
Desmond O'Toole writes guest article on jasonomahoney.ie
A short while back I was invited by Jason O'Mahoney, a commentator on Irish and European politics, to contribute a guest article to his blog jasonomahoney.ie. The article, "Why should European democracy matter?" puts the Campaign for a PES Primary in...
EurActiv covers the Campaign: Grassroots socialists push for EU election primaries
EurActiv.com is one of Europe's leading on-line news sources. In an article entitled "Grassroots socialists push for EU election primaries" and published today, they discuss the Campaign for a PES Primary and survey the discussions that are taking pl...
Irish Institute of International & European Affairs blogs on our Campaign
The Institute of International and European Affairs (IIEA) is Ireland’s leading think tank on European and International affairs and is an independent, not-for-profit organisation with charitable status. Its extensive research programme aims to pro...
Guest Blog: Why should European democracy matter?
Activists of the Party of European Socialists (PES) are campaigning for the PES to hold pan-European primary elections to choose the party’s candidate for the Presidency of the European Commsison in 2014. Declining turnout in European elections, de...
Combining competition and subsidiarity will be the key to a compromise for a PES primary.- Aymeric Lorthiois
Since the early twentieth century, from Canada to Japan without forgetting Europe, history is full of examples of political parties that agreed to democratize the process of selection of their leading candidate in order to overcome an unprecedented d...
Allier compétition et subsidiarité sera la clé du compromis pour une primaire PSE - Aymeric Lorthiois
Depuis le début du XXème siècle, du Canada au Japon en passant par l’Europe, l’histoire abonde d’exemples de partis qui, pour surmonter une lourde défaite, ont accepté de démocratiser le processus de désignation de leur candidat tête-de...
Un calendar pentru alegerile primare europene
Dan Luca is the President of the Romanian Social Democratic Party section in Brussels. He also writes a blog at casaeuropei.blogspot.com where he discusses European and Romanian politics. In an article entitled "Un calendar pentru alegerile primare e...
Europäische Sozialdemokraten fordern Vorwahlen für die nächste Kommission
europaeum, a German-language blogger, is writing on the Campaign for a PES Primary. europaeum raises some important questions about possible resistance from national parties and their leaders to the campaign demand that individual members of PES nati...
Language barriers challenge online campaigning in Europe
The grass root campaigners for a PES Primary we are following have to shovel away without explicit endorsement from the Party of European Socialists (PES) or the formidable resources of its member parties at national level. Lacking a seal of approval...
Eurocité think-tank reproduces 27roses.eu article
Eurocité, le thinktank européen progressiste, has reproduced the article published by 27roses.eu on the Campaign for a PES Primary. Eurocité is a team of young researchers, senior government officials, lawyers, political and private practitioners...
Primärval för Europas socialdemokrater: Vinnande recept?
Ralf Grahn blogs in Swedish on his impressions of the Campaign for a PES Primary. Ralf writes:Kampanjen för ett demokratiskt primärval är samtidigt en utmaning för de övriga europeiska partierna, eller kortare Europapartierna (och ännu kortare...
Ralf Grahn discusses on-line campaigning
Ralf Grahn discusses the issues facing on-line campaigners on his blog. He writes,A political online campaign for Europe has to contend with two attitude challenges: inertia and prejudice (even hatred).The Campaign for a PES Primary is an example of...
Online campaign challenges in Europe: Inertia and hostility
Online media, or social media, potentially cross national and linguistic borders, but both attitudes and languages present formidable challenges for Europe-wide campaigns. Here we take a look at attitudes. In a blog post on Europaportalen, the Swedi...
Rejoignez le mouvement Européen pour une primaire PSE en 2013 - equipe 27roses.eu
equipe 27rose.eu is a team of French socialists active on European affairs within the French Socialist Party. These militants du PSE are at the forefront of using new social media technology to debate European politics and articulate the case for a n...
Amazing: 900 people now supporting Campaign
A further one hundred PES activists and supporters have now joined our Campaign Group on Facebook. This is an amazing level of support. Remember, we're still in August, probably one of the quietest months for European politics. We are now very strong...
800, going to 900
A couple of days ago we passed the 800 members mark on our group (we are now at 853). These numbers, in August, are a great success for our initiative.Lets try and get to 1.000 before September... ;)...
Thumbs-up for Campaign from Twitter
Many thanks to @mteu, @Eurogoblin, @EuropeanCitizen and @Europa451 for including the Campaign for a PES Primary (@PESPrimary) in their recommendations this week as a eurotweet to follow.
Primary Ideas : Conor Slowey
Conor Slowey, writing in his blog The European Citizen, offers some interesting ideas as to how PES primaries might be organised. He also raises the wider issue of how the European Commision might develop as a democratic EU government elected out of...
Europa451.it comments on the Campaign
Francesca Barca at Europa451 has posted in Italian on the Campaign for a PES Primary.In an article entitled: "È tempo di elezioni primarie tra i socialisti europei?", Francesca writes:E, effettivamente, questi militanti hanno la loro parte di ragion...
Comment from Finland on the Campaign
Ralf Grahn, who we have featured before, is a lawyer in Helsinki who writes on EU law and related matters.Here is a Finnish-language article where he discusses the Campaign for a PES Primary. Ralf introduces his article on Facebook as well with these...
PES September Seminar: Primaries
The PES Primary Campaign activists have been invited to the September seminar of the PES in Brussels. The seminar is the beginnning of the internal PES debate on the Presidental candidate selection process. It's great to see this worthwhile campaign...
Oustanding first result for Campaign for a PES Primary
The Campaign for a PES Primary is delighted to announce the first result of all the hard work and support that PES activists and supporters have given to us. Desmond O'Toole and José Reis Santos have been invited to attend a seminar organised by the...
No taxation without representation: bloggingportal.eu
blogging portal.eu, an aggregator for the European blogosphere, highlights the Campaign for a PES Primary as one of the two major stories of the week. The other story is the European Commissions plans for direct EU taxation. That's some exalted compa...
"Primaires européennes" : europa451.fr
Europa451.fr, a French-language website, has been analysing the Campaign for a PES Primary. Jean-Sebastien Lefebvre, a member of their editorial team, writes:Les militants n'ont pas tort: il faut personnaliser la politique à l'échelle européen, fa...
An "independent outsider" writes on the Campaign.
Ralf Grahn is a lawyer based in Helsinki who blogs on EU law and politics. Ralf has written two three thoughtful blog articles extolling the exciting prospect of the PES using primary elections to select our candidate for the Commission Presidency.Ra...
"An Encouraging Proposal" : Peter Sain ley Berry
Peter Sain ley Berry is a writer who maintains a blog with euobserver.com and is supporting the Campaign for a PES Primary. Peter writes, "... [the voters] should know – or so the argument goes – that if they vote for the Socialists or the democr...
Activists challenge Party of European Socialists (PES): Spent force or renewable resource?
Even if the Campaign for a PES Primary is directed at socialist, social democratic and labour party activists right now, the call for action by Desmond O’Toole and José Reis Santos challenges the leadership of the Party of European Socialists (PES...
PES Primaries: a survival issue for Europe's Left
In a hard-hitting analysis of the prospects for Left politics in Europe, Neil Warner of Irish Labour Youth argues that unless the Party of European Socialists embraces grassroots democracy in its own organisation as well as within the EU, then his g...
An Encouraging Proposal
This is the holiday season. Nevertheless it would be wrong of me to miss the opportunity to comment on recent proposals by the Party of European Socialists (PES) to select a candidate for the next president of the European Commission when that post f...
Facebook Campaign Group reaches 700 supporters
The speed at which the Campaign for a PES Primary is attracting support has picked up dramatically following the great work done by members in inviting their friends to support us and also the Campaign being publicised on euobserver.com and in the bl...
EU Commission President: Campaign for a PES-PSE Primary growing by the day
Social media are a wonderful thing. Online you can make contacts and campaign for good causes across borders, such as the Campaign for a PES Primary we looked at yesterday. Check for updates on the active blog, which gets today’s #bkaeb recommendat...
Some words from "Justice Sociale" on Facebook
Here are few words that "Justice Sociale", a French member of Facebook, has posted on her page to encourage people to register their support for the Campaign for a PES Primary. It just goes to illustrate how a campaign like this spreads through...
Over 600 people now support our Facebook campaign
Congratulations to everyone again ... within a week we've added yet another 100 supporters to our Facebook Campaign Group.If you support our campaign then please join our group and invite your Facebook friends to do the same. This is a campaign suppo...
A more democratic Europe - Desmond O'Toole
Activists of the Party of European Socialists (PES) are campaigning for the PES to hold pan-European primary elections to choose the party’s candidate for the Presidency of the European Commission in 2014. Declining turnout in European elections, c...
euobserver.com writes on PES Primary Campaign
euobserver.com is one of Europe's leading on-line news agencies, specialising in stories relating to the European Union. Their reporter, Leigh Philips, interviewed the organisers of the campaign for an article that has been posted today at: Socialist...
Campaign for a PES Primary now on Twitter
The Campaign for a PES Primary is now available on Twitter. Follow us @PESPrimary...
