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Published Wednesday, June 11, 2008 at 09:36
by
Editor
in Save our planet (1291 views and 0 comments)
Last months, participants agreed on
the need for a radical shift both on the production and the
consumption side. The whole exploitation and processing of
resources must be rethought.
Setting
standards for measuring the risk of a pollutant manufacturing
process or use of a product was
proposed by several manifesto supporters. Another alternative is
the use of a 'climate
label’ for products which are, for
example, produced in climate neutral and using energy efficient
processes.
We need to change our consumer
habits. According to Carlo
Petrini, President of Slow Food, agricultural products should
be produced and consumed locally in order to respect the needs of
the farmers and the environment.
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Tags: activists, barometer, energy, environment, transport
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Published Wednesday, June 11, 2008 at 09:25
by
Editor
in New Social Europe (813 views and 0 comments)
Here is an overview of the topics discussed on the New Social
Europe theme with PES manifesto supporters' articles covering
issues going from gender inequality to immigration.
Don’t give up on New Social Europe!
The European social model needs to be renovated but its
bases must be preserved. While we
debate the reform of the European social model, we need to also
debate the reform of globalisation. This includes, for example,
the need for national and international redistribution and the
need to stop the race to the bottom, both in taxes (so that
states can afford good education and welfare for everyone) by
initiating an international tax-cooperation, and in social
standards by starting international cooperation to raise
them.
We need concrete measures to ensure
globalisation is politically controlled, such as a
single EU representation in international financial institutions,
the establishment of a UN Economic Security Council, and an
efficient control over tax havens
Tackling social
insecurity
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Tags: activists, barometer, employment, workers, youth
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Published Monday, June 9, 2008 at 16:30
by
Editor
in EU in the world (922 views and 0 comments)
The last months of the debates on EU in the
world have again brought many proposals to include in the
Manifesto to the 2009 European elections.
Global Disarmament
Several participants recommend that the Manifesto mentions
Europe’s responsibility to ensure global disarmament and arms controls. Measures could include working towards a nuclear
weapons-free Europe, reducing military expenses, focusing on
conflict prevention, revitalising international processes and
agreements (such as the non-proliferation and the CFE treaties),
and banning small arms and light weapons (SALW) exports to
unstable regions. But participants
also agreed that the EU should develop
its own military structures outside NATO to be able to
independently carry out missions covered by the Petersberg tasks.
Also, EU member states should press the US to restrain from
engaging private contractors in conflict
regions.
Towards democratic international...
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Tags: activists, barometer, EU, neighbours, poverty, social dialogue, UN, USA
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Published Tuesday, June 3, 2008 at 10:17
by
Editor
in European democracy & diversity (454 views and 0 comments)
Many participants to the online
consultation noted the need to push forward the anti-discrimination directive to deal with the
increasing intolerance, homophobia and discrimination in Europe.
We also need to educate people and politicians, and change
backward mentalities to ensure legislation is effectively
implemented. The PES should therefore produce a clear statement on this directive.
Natalia highlighted the need to put
emphasis on equality policies as a cornerstone of the PES
political action: “in defining socialist policies, we have a
moral obligation to work in favour of this profound social change
through education, legislation and the questioning of those
social models based on the so-called superiority of one sex over
the other”. The case of the Spanish government, with 9 women
and 8 men, and a Ministry of Equality, should be used as a best
practice.
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Tags: barometer, blogosphere, communication, democracy, discrimination, EU
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Published Tuesday, April 15, 2008 at 11:49
by
Editor
in European democracy & diversity (1089 views and 0 comments)
Since the last barometer on European democracy and diversity
participants have been keen to continue the debates. Here’s an
overview of last month’s input:
Fighting discrimination by promoting understanding and
tolerance
As socialists and social democrats, participants agree that the PES
should make the promotion of tolerance one of its key priorities,
by campaigning and by enforcing legislation on the matter. Some
underline this as a way of countering stereotypes on discriminated
groups.
Promoting European citizenship and identity
Participants in the debate have also made a number of specific
proposals to promote European citizenship and identity. Many
highlight that politicians and the media should take a greater role
in better talking and reporting on Europe; the
‘abuse’ of Europe for national or personal
purposes is strongly criticized in the debate. For Scandinavian PES activists,...
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Tags: activists, barometer, citizens, decent work, democracy, discrimination, diversity, EU
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Published Thursday, April 3, 2008 at 09:57
by
Editor
in EU in the world (1271 views and 0 comments)
The debates on the theme 'EU in the world' continue on a speedy track.
During the last month a lot of progressive view-points and ideas
have been aired - also on the international responsibilities of the
EU and of each and every European citizen. Here’s an account of the
debate since the last 'EU in the
world' barometer:
A more transparent and accountable EU foreign
policy
A new debate has been started by social
democratic European foundations on the need to have a more
transparent and more accountable EU foreign policy. The aim is to
ensure that European citizens are aware that, besides the gaps that
are always highlighted in the news headlines, the EU is quite
successful in its external policies. More democratic control is
also required, including through the European Parliament.
Development - a focus on brain drain and decent
work
Participants are concerned about development as a crucial aspect of
the EU’s external activities. Brain drain is a key issue, with
Scandinavian PES activists considering that knowledge
sharing, education, and brain drain must be given a lot of thought
in EU development and foreign policies. The PSOE proposal...
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Tags: barometer, decent work, defence, democracy, fair trade, Russia, UN, USA
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Published Thursday, March 13, 2008 at 11:33
by
Editor
in EU in the world (1437 views and 2 comments)
Participants in the EU in the world debate seem to agree that the EU
should play a greater role in international politics and some
offered specific proposals on how this could be done.
Development - a lot more than economic growth
Development has been a central issue of the debates. Pattheact noted the need to deal with the emergence of
new donors, such as China in Africa. This new aid and loans come
without conditions of good governance, and therefore can have a
negative impact in developing countries, perpetuating the corrupt
systems. Eurodad proposed that the EU adheres to a set of
responsible financing standards, to avoid the resurgence of the
spiral of unpayable debt in developing countries. Our previous
blogger of the week Victor Negrescu also insists on the need for more
coherent development cooperation strategies to improve the
efficiency of development aid and ensure its focus on the needs of
local populations. On a related topic, Kim noted that the PES should take part in the
discussions on globalisation,...
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Tags: barometer, climate change, development, human rights, peace, UN, USA
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Published Thursday, March 6, 2008 at 10:27
by
Editor
in European democracy & diversity (1515 views and 0 comments)
The first months of debating European democracy and diversity
have really brought up a lot of priorities and proposals for the
PES to consider:
Fighting discrimination
First of all, fighting discrimination is a very important topic,
including the promotion of minority, women and LGBT rights and of
equal opportunities for all, and the fight against fascism,
racism, anti-Semitism and islamophobia. Regulations already exist at the EU
and national levels, but Rainbow Rose points out the need to enforce these
regulations. The example of the Spanish socialist party, PSOE, was
put forward as a best practice to be followed by PES member
parties on gender issues – the PES itself is already committed to
40 percent representation of each gender, and has over 42 percent
women MEPs.
More democracy, please
The EU democratic deficit is also a recurrent theme. There is an
agreement on the need to ensure more participatory democracy and
reinforce the European Parliament, in order to reconnect the EU and its citizens. For instance, the
PES could insist on the creation of a
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Tags: barometer, democracy, discrimination, diversity, fundamental rights, gay, LGBT, multiculturalism
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Published Thursday, February 28, 2008 at 12:26
by
Editor
in Save our planet (1388 views and 1 comments)
We have seen a very lively debate about a number of relevant topics
in the 'Save
our planet' section of Yourspace. The contributions from
bloggers and PES activists demonstrate a growing interest in
climate change issues, and they offered important ideas for the PES
to work on. Here are the highlights:
Biofuels
The pro’s and con’s of EU support for biofuels have been a hot topic with a
big number of comments from our participants. Migeru, taipale and
other users were sceptical whether the current generation of
biofuels are really an answer to energy scarcity. Clearly,
participants want a sustainable answer and not one, which threatens
to add to environmental problems.
Encouraging greener life styles
What is your individual answer to climate change? The idea to
calculate our individual contribution to climate change, the
so-called carbon footprint, has been received with interest. Nanne
from Berlin added an important point: this user called for
political support and advice for a green life style. One option is
the the so-called 'front-runner approach', an idea the PES can and
should discuss...
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Tags: barometer, biofuels, climate change, CO2, consumer, energy, environment
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Published Tuesday, February 19, 2008 at 16:51
by
Editor
in New Social Europe (1411 views and 1 comments)
The first months of debating New Social
Europe have really brought up a lot of priorities and proposals
for the PES to consider.
Tackling the consequences of globalization has been a recurring
theme: Esther from Barcelona has given us a great summary of
the challenges we face. Many new ideas have come out of the
discussion: regulating sovereign wealth funds wanting to buy up
strategic European companies; ensuring hedge funds are subject to
the same rules concerning transparency and respect for workers’
rights; allowing workers who face redundancy due to a takeover bid
and outsourcing of production to acquire the factory and start up
on their own as a cooperative. All very interesting!
How to create a humane and responsible common European migration
policy, as proposed by Yohann
from France, is also being actively debated at European level due
to the legislation being adopted on the EU blue card and the
upcoming French Presidency of the EU. Sarkozy has promised to adopt
a European Migration Pact – but let’s see what he comes up with…
Socialist governments such as that of José Luis Zapatero in Spain
are at the forefront of the debate and this is certainly a priority
worth considering for the PES manifesto.
...
read more
Tags: barometer, discrimination, diversity, gay, globalization, health, investment, LGBT, women
