100 posts
Book Review: After the Third Way: The Future of Social Democracy in Europe
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Electorally marginalised, seemingly ideologically exhausted and often out-of-step with the contemporary zeitgeist, many commentators believe that European social democracy is currently in profound need of revision and renewal. This book marks a serio...
Activity Report of the Socialists and Democrats
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At the PES Congress the Socialists and Democrats Group in the European Parliament submitted its activity report (PDF). It gives an interesting snapshot of how the parliamentary party views itself, as a party of opposition within the EU institutions.T...
PES Congress 2012
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Last week the Party of European Socialists (which sits in the Socialists and Democrats Group in the European Parliament) held its 2012 Congress in Brussels. There they adopted a resolution "Together for the Europe we need" (PDF). The resolution set o...
SLD’s Economic Programme Offers an Example for the European Left
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On the one hand austerity and on the other…. well what exactly?This is the dilemma that is posed for the left in Europe today. Is there a viable alternative to the policies of the neo-liberal right, who propose yet more cuts and liberalisation as a...
A few questions for Relaunching Europe
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The S&D Group have set up their Relaunching Europe initiative, asking for opinions and questions about Europe and their policies, so I thought I'd ask a few questions.1. It's a good idea for Europarties and the groups in the European Parliament t...
Relaunching Europe
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The Socialists and Democrats Group in the European Parliament have launched their Relaunching Europe website. The initiative is about creating an alternative to the current policies and direction of Europe, and it invites people to submits ideas and...
PES Congress to be moved from Bucharest to Brussels
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Due to the political battles between the Romanian governing coalition of socialists and liberals and the conservative president, the Party of European Socialists (which sits in the Socialists and Democrats group in the European Parliament) will move...
"Social Democracy after the Cold War" by Henning Meyer
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I was made aware of a new academic book on social democracy after the Cold War and many of you might also be interested in this. There is the additional advantage that the whole book can be downloaded for free from the publisher’s website. So i...
"Social Democratic Values and Freedom" by Luke Martell
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Many discussions about the values of social democracy are about its traditional beliefs – equality, social justice and collectivism. It’s debated whether these are still desirable, if they need revising to fit in with new times or to accommod...
Eurocrisis, Democratic Deficit and the Re:New Conference
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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
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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
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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?
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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”
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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’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
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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
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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.
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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
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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
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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)
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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?
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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!
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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
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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.
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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
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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
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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
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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!
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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
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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?
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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!
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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
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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
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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
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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?
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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?
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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...
