Europe is unique in the way it tries to combine a free market economy with social justice. But things are changing with globalization and our ageing society. Conservatives say we can no longer afford high standards of social and environmental protection. We say our welfare states are our strength, that a society in which everyone can participate, contribute and benefit will be a strong and prosperous society. We say our welfare states must be renewed - not dismantled: reformed to meet new challenges, not taken apart. The PES agreed 10 Principles for a New Social Europe at our Congress at the end of 2006. But what should be our priorities for 2009-14? What should be done at the European level in the years ahead?
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Published Thursday, July 10, 2008 at 12:41
by
Gregory 
(622 views and 1 comments)
Commençons par une
bonne nouvelle : les européens vivent de plus en plus longtemps.
En moyenne, l’espérance de vie augmente de trois mois par an en
Europe. Une société qui vit plus longtemps ne va, a priori, pas
si mal.
Continuons par une moins bonne nouvelle : les européens n’assurent pas le renouvellement des générations. En effet, il faudrait une moyenne supérieure à 2 enfants par femme pour que cela soit le cas et nous en sommes loin. Avec des taux de fécondité de seulement 1,25 en Espagne, en Italie, en République Tchèque et en Pologne, la situation est parfois très inquiétante.
Le vieillissement de la population européenne aura dans les prochaines années des conséquences économiques et sociales très lourdes. Une pénurie de main d’œuvre et de matière grise qui fragilisera la croissance économique. L’augmentation du coût des soins médicaux et des retraites et les inégalités qui en découleront.
Face à ce défi... » read more ...
Tags: equality, immigration, workers
Published Saturday, July 5, 2008 at 19:33
by
ateneamel
(579 views and 1 comments)
PES activists are participating on the Vienna Forum to discuss the New Social Europe and to defend our values: democracy, freedom, Human Rights. We encourage everybody to spread the socialist point of views.
We should spread our voice. Improve cooperation between European and national Socialist parties is the solution. We want to build a New Social Europe based on the equity of opportunities and solidarity but to achieve it we need your help and support.
It is important to defend women rights. Being a woman should not be an obstacle. Women are intelligent, talented… Women have innovative ideas. We, women, have the support of the socialist leaders and politics. Socialists have the challenge to create a New Social Europe. They engage themselves to think and find solutions for people’s real problems. That’s why the manifesto2009 is being prepared.µ
We have the resources, the organization, people and our essential strengths: our values!
Published Saturday, July 5, 2008 at 19:18
by
joelld
(428 views and 0 comments)
Rainbow Rose
LGBT, an observer member of the Party of European Socialists,
has been present throughout the consultation of PES activists
since the very beginning in 2007. Our network produced a
contribution to emphasize the need for the European Union to
ensure that one of its core values – equality of rights for all –
is going to make new progresses that will benefit all citizens.
During the past months, we collected support for our proposals among activists, being constantly present in PES events. At the same time, we made efforts to introduce our contribution to PES leaders and to members of the European Parliament. To this day, more than 40 MEPs publicly support Rainbow Rose’s contribution.
Among our concerns, along with the promotion and the monitoring of Human LGBT Rights all over the Union and in the world, come some very concrete actions that are fundamental to the Union’s policies and principles. To mention a very relevant point, Rainbow Rose asks the PES to ensure the full achievement of the freedom of movement for all, without discrimination.
» read more ...Tags: forum, fundamental rights, LGBT, manifesto, PES
Published Saturday, July 5, 2008 at 11:51
by
negrescuvictor
(368 views and 0 comments)
I have participated
in a lot of debates regarding Europe but unfortunately everyone
is tending to forget the rural and small cities communities. We
often talk about agriculture but we don't discuss enough the
problems of peple living there.
In Romania around 40% of the population lives in rural areas and in countries like Poland or Bulgaria the percentage is similar.
PES activists Romania organised an internal debate on this and we have identified some of their problems:
- difficulties regarding the access to high level education
- exclusion from technological evolution
- development problems / sanitary access
Tags: blogger of the week, rural areas
Published Friday, July 4, 2008 at 10:23
by
franciscopolo
(393 views and 0 comments)
As you all know the
European Central Bank has its main goal to control the interest
rates, that is to say, the price of money in the eurozone. The
matter is that the Federal Reserve of the United States is
keeping an interest rate much lower than the European ones. While
we are having a 4% interest rate, in the States the interest rate
is around 2%.
This has several consequences but the most important ones are that our companies can’t invest so they can’t become more competitive and that our products become more expensive abroad Europe so our companies become even less competitive.
If we add to all that the fact that oil is having peak prices almost everyday so everything is becoming more expensive for them, the result is easy to see: they are trapped.
In order to face this situation “the European Central Bank should ask itself not only about inflation but also about economic growth”, Mr. Sarkozy said. “You can double interest rates and that will not make go down the price of the Brent barrel”.
This is a position held by Sarko. I wrote about it yesterday in my blog. And then I wondered…
What’s our political response to the economy crisis?
Tags: blogger of the week, economy, employment, investment
Published Wednesday, July 2, 2008 at 09:33
by
Editor
(453 views and 1 comments)
Check them here with Conny Reuter, Secretary General of Solidar.
Tags: immigration, justice, social dialogue, workers
Published Friday, June 27, 2008 at 10:45
by
negrescuvictor
(546 views and 2 comments)
The perspectives
regarding Europe seems to illustrate unfortunately the existence
of two different European visions, an Eastern and a Western point
of view. These differences can be easily seen in issues like
workers migration, economical delocalization, taxes, and the
enlargement process.
Workers migration
East: for countries from this side of Europe the freedom of movement is what Europe is all about. The people who migrate from our countries do so to build themselves a better live but also to help there families back home.
West: unfortunately the Eastern European migrants are presented as a problem and we as socialists have trouble fighting this point of view
Solution: building up a common point of view regarding migration- informing our national communities regarding the other European communities migrating and explaining the good effects that this brings on the economy
Economic delocalization
East: most of the Eastern European countries are in need of foreign investments to... » read more ...
Tags: blogger of the week, citizens, democracy, diversity, EU
Published Friday, June 27, 2008 at 09:53
by
chourka
(422 views and 1 comments)
Voilà une idée
originale portée par les camarades du SP.a qui mériterait d'être
étudiée sérieusement et pourquoi pas reprise dans notre manifeste
électoral.
De quoi s'agit-il exactement ?
On sait que les forces de police sont coordonnées au niveau européen par EUROPOL pour ce qui concerne les questions liées aux trafics en tout genre, le terrorisme. Bien que cette institution naissante aurait besoin de moyens pour fonctionner efficacement, elle a le mérite d'exister.
Ce que propose nos camarades belges, c'est que dans le domaine social, une sorte d'inspection européenne du Travail soit mise en place et que celle-ci puisse contrôler le respect au sein des Etats-membres des droits sociaux dans le but d'éviter le dumping social.
Dans de nombreuses contributions, revient également l'idée d'une harmonisation vers le haut des droits sociaux. Parfois avec des variations comme celle sur l'imposition d'un salaire minimum européen. Le SP.a ne précise pas comment il l'imagine son application quand la Fédération de Paris indique qu'il doit être... » read more ...
Tags: blogger of the week, employment, justice, wages, workers
Published Thursday, June 26, 2008 at 09:33
by
rikkeindenmark
(703 views and 10 comments)
And now for
something completely different – as Monty Python would say! I’m
moving away from gender issues and on to a completely different
topic, namely education.
I work in the university sector, where tuition fees are currently
a burning hot topic for debate. In my home country we have a long
tradition for free – or rather publicly funded – higher
education. The argument is that when higher education is free
everyone – regardless of social or economic background – has the
opportunity to take a university degree. Basically, as Danes see
it free education is a question of equality and equal access to
education.
However, in globalization the Danish higher education model is
challenged: Denmark is one of very few countries in the world
which does not have tuition fees (correct me if I’m wrong, but I
think there are only 10 countries worldwide with free higher
education!). University education is increasingly becoming
‘internationalized’: more and more universities cooperate across
borders to offer joint degrees; more and more students go abroad
on exchange or take a full degree abroad, etc. With more
cooperation across borders it gets more difficult for Denmark to
stick with the ‘no... »
read more ...
Tags: blogger of the week, education, equality, public services
Published Wednesday, June 25, 2008 at 09:36
by
franciscopolo
(460 views and 2 comments)
Last week we had a
very good article at the Spanish PES Activists site that I would like to
share with you. It was writen by one of our activists in Madrid,
Nebulosa, who preferred to use a nickname for work related
reasons. The article treats an important subject:
A public debate has opened up again about the new way to govern Europe. Three countries held a referendum on the old treaty for a European constitution; and while it was approved in Spain, it was turned down both in Holland and France. The new Treaty of Lisbon is not being ratified via referendums but is subject to the approval by the different Parliaments of the member States. One exception should be noted: Ireland.
Ireland was the only country where a referendum was called, and its citizens decided to reject the Treaty. Maybe Irish voters did not take into consideration all the benefits that they have obtained from Europe, which have made their remarkable development possible. But what is happening in such Europhile countries as France and Holland for them to turn their back on building this new European Union?
Many citizens are having opposing feelings about how to build that Europe.... » read more ...
Tags: blogger of the week, citizens, democracy, EU
Published Tuesday, June 24, 2008 at 11:56
by
Editor
(440 views and 1 comments)
Have you ever
imagined how many elderly can not afford to go on holidays and the
consequences on their wellbeing?Tags: elderly, human rights, manifesto
Published Tuesday, June 24, 2008 at 09:48
by
franciscopolo
(572 views and 1 comments)
On 10 June the Labour
Ministries of the European Union agreed the possibility of
enlarging the work journey to 60 hour or, eventually, 65 hours if
the company and the worker agree to do so.
The reaction in Spain: this is a clear attack to the Social Europe we are trying to achieve and we are not going to assume it easily.
Today in Europe, the maximum work journey is set at 48 hours per week. It was set this way by the International Labour Organisation in 1917. According to Lourdes Muñoz a recognised socialist blogger in Spain:
This Directive will eliminate the right to rest during the continued working journeys, it attempts against the safety and health at the work place and difficult the conciliation of personal and working life.
The promoters of this initiative affirm that this Directive will implement the freedom to individually negotiate the length of our own working journey but as we all know theory is theory and there will be no negotiation. Individualisation of the working relations... » read more ...
Tags: blogger of the week, employment, workers
Published Monday, June 23, 2008 at 09:06
by
_EPSU_
(358 views and 0 comments)
Quality employment and quality public services and not “market obligations” should be the driving principles for the European Union in order to foster social inclusion, equality and solidarity.
The European Federation of Public Services Unions (EPSU) welcomes PES initiatives striving for better public services such as the call for a specific horizontal framework that should set out concrete quality standards and criteria. This horizontal legal framework, based on the public services protocol annexed to the Lisbon Treaty, could serve as a departure point for sectoral initiatives and could be an opportunity to give more scope for the inclusion of social and environmental criteria in public procurement contracts and in productivity indicators, to raise good administration, transparency, democratic control, to promote more gender equality and to guarantee equal access to public services.
Concerning employment, a “quality work” has to be preferred to a “flexisecurity approach”. In this respect, EPSU advocates fair working conditions, full rights and representation including better collective bargaining rights. There is also the need to do more in order to improve gender equality and to... » read more ...
Tags: employment, manifesto, public services
Published Tuesday, June 17, 2008 at 12:04
by
Editor
(468 views and 0 comments)
Everyone is talking about the „New Social Europe“these days: it is one of the most important issues of the upcoming European elections, not only for European but also for German social democrats. On June 9 SPD chairman and manifesto2009 theme group leader Kurt Beck hosted an expert conference in Berlin. Together with Poul Nyrup Rasmussen (President of the PES), Walter Veltrony (chairman of the Democratic Party of Italy), Michael Sommer (head of the Confederation of German Trade Unions) and many others he discussed the challenges and future duties for the national states and the European Union in order to devise a European economic and social model for a globalized world.
SPD chairman declared the social Europe to be the central... » read more ...
Tags: EU, social dialogue
Published Monday, June 16, 2008 at 11:48
by
Editor
(429 views and 0 comments)
Low income and the unemployed are the most affected groups by chronic diseases and have lower life expectancy. European Public Health Alliance (EPHA) presents its suggestions for the manifesto2009 to tackle the problem.
Click here to read EPHA' contribution for the manifesto2009.
Tags: health, public services
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