PES Manifesto

Local and regional socialists and social democrats debate the PES manifesto in Turin, Italy

Published Wednesday, May 21, 2008 at 10:35
by Editor (1065 views and 0 comments)

After having held a conference on New Social Europe on April 8, the PES Group in the Committee of the Regions met up again to discuss the three remaining topics of the PES manifesto consultation: Save our planet, European democracy and diversity and EU in the world. The extraordinary meeting was held on 15-16 May in Turin, Italy, at the invitation of Mercedes Bresso, President of the Piedmont Region and President of the PES Group in the Committee of the Regions.

The three discussion panels brought together numerous local social democrats, top decision-makers and experts who committed themselves to help build a coherent socialist and social democratic programme with a distinct local and regional perspective relating to the EU's environmental, institutional and external challenges.

Major consequences for global economy
Opening the conference, PES President Poul Nyrup Rasmussen asked the participants to take to heart peoples’ concerns and gave an important example why a rethinking of politics is inevitable: if we don’t tackle climate change in a more ambitious way now, global warming could shrink the global economy by 20 percent in the foreseeable future. The PES President called on the seminar participants to tie together a bunch of "red roses" for Europe, a bunch of focused wishes, to offer some precise alternatives to the European voter.

Slow food movement: Quality food is a right for all women and men
The first speaker to make a proposal was Carlo Petrini, President of Slow Food and Terra Madre Association. His principal idea was that Europe has to reconsider agriculture. According to Petrini agricultural products should be produced and consumed locally – respecting the needs of the farmers and the environment. In order to convince people, socialists cannot talk about development and growth in contradiction to ecological policies.

However, it was not only about winning elections why Petrini asked for a new approach on agriculture:

"We are socialists even before we are Europeans", he said. "The whole aspect of global fraternity shall not be forgotten. Never have we talked about food as a pleasure so much, but never have we had such a terrible quality… Quality food is a right for all men and women in the world."

To make sure, that there is enough food for everyone, we need to change our lifestyles. This also means to reduce consumption – not for the worse – but in order to consume better.

The production of fuel from agriculture is considered by Petrini as a criminal act given hundreds of million people suffering from hunger or even starving to death. Socialists must take the political lead by building up a new humanism. Yes, there is an urgent need to care for the environment! But it’s not so much about the Earth being in danger; it’s about the human race destroying its own livelihood. We must save our planet if we want to save the human race!

Smart green growth on the agenda
Arguing from completely different starting points, all speakers on Save our planet agreed that socialists need to reclaim the environment agenda for the left – in order to win elections, but even more to make sure that there will be an adequate interplay between economy, ecology and solidarity. 'Smart green growth' in a 'New Social Europe” is the key phrase for addressing the challenges of today in a responsible and progressive way.

Check out Yourspace later this week to find out about the discussions of the other panels and an interview with Claudio Martini, PES Group Coordinator on Save our planet and President of the Tuscany Region!

View more photos from Turin here

Tags: biofuels, climate change, CO2, consumer, environment, green cities