Party of European Socialists (PES, umbrella organization for European social democrats) gathered this week over one hundred young Europeans in Brussels. The topic was the EU's international role and the party's strategy for the forthcoming elections to the European Parliament. UAPs Øivind Bratberg was Norwegian participant in the conference along with Jenny Kløverød from Telemark.
Party Politics at the EU level can be a difficult exercise to get an overview of. Politics in the European Parliament do not always fit with the left-right dimension, and can often be unclear what kind of constraints that are added through the EU decision and what member countries (and EEA countries such as Norway) still has full control. The financial crisis shows how this might look like in practice: if the national solutions to function, it also requires that the boilers to Europe in order to coordinate strategy and to make decisions that are actually made at the EU level. Within Europe, added a good deal of the framework for financial and commercial activities through the EU.
On this basis, social democracy can also be seen as a multi-level project: main teams fought on the domestic arena, but one must add the contribution that a decision at the EU level support social democratic policy. This is also the strategy if one wants the EU to be anything other than a project for freer trade: labor rights, environmental protection and assistance are typical EU issues where the left hand, make a difference.
PES President Poul Nyrup Rasmussen held the opening speech at the conference where these relationships between the national and the European was underlined. The financial crisis has weakened the faith of the market's blessings: in the struggle to decide what now follows, it is essential that social democracy is present at both the national and European level. Options Program for PES (which have different additional national parties) expressed the same mix of measures: minimum wage, investment in public health care and education, for example, cases that are managed safely and within countries but where the PES would agree on a common strategy .
many indications that the choice of European Parliament (4-7. June) will give a jump to the left in light of the financial crisis. PES is currently significantly less than the conservative / Christian Democratic European People's Party. It is hoped that this may look different in June. The new parliament will also decide the next period's EU commissioners. Here it is the individual member countries nominate, but with a stronger PES in the European Parliament will have implications for the composition of the Commission will have in 2009-14. Do Swedish Commissioner Margot Wallström company of several social democrats, and it is even possible to replace the Commission President José Manuel Barroso with a PES candidate? If one is to get a stronger European left, the timing should be good in 2009.
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