Published Tuesday, October 7, 2008 at 23:04
by
carl0s 
in Debate (478 views and 0 comments)
We face economic
challenges not seen for generations.
This is the time when we must state the case for socialism.
We have a clear decision. We can stand by, and leave the public to pick up the pieces afterwards, in what could be the worst recession since the 1930s.
Or we provide a clear alternative. And here are 5 points for discussion:
- establishment of fixed exchange rates with any fluctuations subject to 95% Tobin tax
- a massive public works program based on harnessing renewable energy sources and transport, bringing existing African-based solar projects forward
- all bank interest rates determined by the ECB or national bank
- bank statutes to contain elected representation and to represent all stakeholders
- immediate implementation of emergency anti-poverty programmes across the EU, including social enterprise and community projects, with emphasis on the young and the elderly
and I'm sure we can think of more...
read morePublished Monday, June 9, 2008 at 16:30
by
Editor
in EU in the world (837 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...
read morePublished Monday, June 2, 2008 at 14:15
by
Editor
in EU in the world (870 views and 1 comments)
EURODAD, the European Network on Debt and Development, gives its input for the manifesto2009. Marta Ruiz, EURODAD policy and advocacy officer, speaks about aid effectiveness and financial relations between rich and developing countries.
Read EURODAD' contribution for the manifesto2009 here.
read morePublished Tuesday, May 20, 2008 at 10:20
by
jan.kreutz
in New Social Europe (710 views and 0 comments)
Dear
comrades,Published Thursday, May 15, 2008 at 10:20
by
amandinecrespy
in New Social Europe (636 views and 0 comments)
Les « travailleurs
pauvres » ne sont pas des gens qui gagnent un petit salaire. Les «
travailleurs pauvres » sont des gens qui ne peuvent pas vivre de
leur travail, c’est-à-dire qu’ils ne peuvent pas se nourrir, payer
la cantine scolaire de leurs enfants, ou se loger décemment. Les
signes d’une forte poussée de la pauvreté dans la plupart des pays
européens sont alarmants. De plus en plus de gens qui travaillent
habitent dans des caravanes ou même des bidonvilles nouvelle
génération en périphérie des grandes villes, vont faire la queue
aux distributions de vivre par des organisations de charité, ou
cumulent – de manière illégale – deux jobs et travaillent bien plus
de quarante heures semaine pour pouvoir joindre les deux bouts.
Dans de nombreux pays européens, le niveau des salaires n’est pas
connecté à la réalité du coût de la vie. Il n’est pas tolérable que
des gens qui travaillent et payent des impôts soient relégués au
rang d’indigents parce que, sous les conditions du capitalisme
global d’aujourd’hui, la pression est mise principalement sur le
coût du travail.Published Tuesday, April 29, 2008 at 10:12
by
markus.austria
in EU in the world (1024 views and 1 comments)
Tags: activists, Africa, defence, democracy, development, multilateralism, peace, poverty, UN
File:
PES manifesto consultation.pdf
Published Friday, April 25, 2008 at 15:40
by
Editor
in EU in the world (1030 views and 0 comments)
Published Monday, April 14, 2008 at 14:46
by
Pierre_Kanuty
in EU in the world (994 views and 0 comments)
What a cruel joke
and what a fundamental question we are confronted with today:
just switch on your television set or read your newspaper, and
you will see how much the prices of raw materials have increased.
This in turn has led to an explosion of violence in the
developing countries, with what we now call the 'hunger riots'.
Let us not forget that the same kind of riots often led to big
revolutions in the past.
Since then, democracy has allowed us to generate the necessary conditions to anticipate these problems in order to solve them with all parties involved. If the weapon of the hungry and the poor remains violence, it is because politics and democracy are not part of these processes. Indeed, for a long time, the functioning of international regulatory bodies has been put into question. As socialists and social-democrats, we are not calling for their abolition but rather for their democratization. The work launched by the French socialist Dominique Strauss-Kahn at the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) follows this rationale in a will to better represent emerging countries. The idea is that the IMF should no longer be the 'banking police of rich countries' systematically oppressing those nations in need.
We are working on the PES manifesto for the 2009 elections and in a couple of weeks, the Socialist...
read morePublished Thursday, April 10, 2008 at 12:42
by
Editor
in New Social Europe (1053 views and 0 comments)
Yes, but… a revision
needs to be done. The social dimension of the Lisbon Agenda and
perspectives for post 2010 EU strategy were key issues on the
agenda of the seminar on the New Social Europe of the
PES Group
in the Committee of Regions on 7 April 2008. The seminar is
part of the group’s contribution to the PES manifesto
consultation.Published Friday, March 28, 2008 at 15:30
by
ania_skrzypek
in EU in the world (1455 views and 4 comments)
Today is the first
sunny day in Brussels, after a week of snow, rain, cold and
grey-dom. One wakes up – and U2 song ‘It’s a beautiful
day’ seem to be sung inside oneself just naturally….
This is how me and you wake up. Probably you open the sink listening to the water falling down into wash basin steadily…Sip of coffee with no thoughts of where it came from… Warm cotton t-shirt surrounds your neck… fair trade? What is fair trade during such a joyful morning? On TV the news presenter says something about some protests or riots in far away country, but no time for that – same tv claims it is already 8. Aha, you think with little anger, you will be late for work – why do people have to go to the office on such a beautiful Friday and sit there till 5 anyway? You think closing the door. The day begun – and within those two hours of pure enjoyment of yours – somewhere in Asia a kid went to factory instead of school, somewhere in Africa a poor family begun its walk to unknown, somewhere in Latin America a trade unionist get bullied again, somewhere in EU a jobless single mother goes for another job hunt. “Beautiful day”? Indeed!
You might think – I am crazy that I want you to bother everyday? Yes, I do! We must...
read morePublished Friday, March 28, 2008 at 14:32
by
Editor
in In the spotlight (1217 views and 1 comments)
The Eurosocialists in Geneva have also sent in their
ideas for the PES manifesto - read the full document here. The group proposes the following four
objectives for the EU in the world theme:
Do you have any ideas to add? Leave a comment and debate with
Eurosocialists Geneva!
Published Friday, February 8, 2008 at 10:47
by
Gail Hurley
in EU in the world (1245 views and 0 comments)
The Party of European
Socialists is asking citizens what Europe should stand for in the
world, and how it can promote democracy, human rights and
sustainable development. Many policy-makers in developed countries
are currently talking about 'responsible lending' to developing
countries. This follows recent rounds of debt cancellation for the
poorest countries and fears that these very same countries will
quickly re-accumulate unpayable debt all over again.Tags: Africa, aid, development, poverty
File:
Responsible_Financing_Charter_report.pdf,
Responsible_Financing_Charter.pdf
Published Friday, January 11, 2008 at 12:55
by
fairness
in EU in the world (1475 views and 2 comments)
Published Wednesday, October 10, 2007 at 10:32
by
Editor
in EU in the world (1525 views and 0 comments)
Almost 90 percent of Europeans want the European Union to play a bigger role globally, according to a recent poll by the US German Marshall Fund. euobserver.com repeat that citizens call for more money to developmental aid (84 %), the use of trade to influence other countries (74 %) and sending troops for peace-keeping missions (68 %).
Committing troops to combat missions is near the bottom of the list. Only 20 percent of Europeans thinks combat operations should be EU’s responsibility.
In contrast to the clear-cut conclusions on global responsibility
the question about collaboration with the US splits Europe in
two: a little more than half, 53 percent, feels that the EU
should cooperate closer with Washington in dealing with global
threats, whereas 43 percent prefers Europe to address threats
independently.
The survey included about 13.000 people of 12 nationalities:
France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal,
Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Turkey and the UK.
Published Tuesday, October 9, 2007 at 12:00
by
Editor
in New Social Europe (1751 views and 0 comments)
Statistics show that a significant proportion of citizens
in Europe, 16 percent according to Eurostat estimates, are at
risk of poverty. Some employed people also find themselves living
in poverty because of the existence of precarious, low-paid jobs
in Europe – the so-called “working poor”. Decent minimum wages
are considered one of the best ways to fight working poverty.
All 27 EU member states have some form of minimum wage: most of them as a statutory right, whereas seven countries (Austria, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Italy, and Sweden) have minimum wages through bargaining between employers and labour unions. This often taken place within sectors, which means that for a number of jobs there is effectively no minimum wage.
The level of minimum wages, however, varies a lot across Europe. Therefore, many people call for an EU target to be established for minimum wages, so that member states converge towards a decent minimum wage for all European citizens. Obviously, it is not possible to pay the same wages in all countries, because of the large differences in income across Europe. It makes more sense to compare minimum wages as a proportion of average gross earnings. Current rates range from 32 percent (Romania) to 52 percent (Ireland).
Experts propose to aim for 50...
read morePublished Tuesday, February 5, 2008 at 03:01
by rikke in New Social Europe ( comments)
Despite a world economic boom, half of the world's workforce still earn less than 2 US dollars a day. 200 million children under the age of 15 work instead of going to school. To mobilise your government, sign the call to action for Decent Work.
The call to action has a strong support in the progressive community - among the supporting organizations are PES Global Progressive Forum, several trade unions and Solidar, a European network of NGOs working in development and humanitarian aid, social policy, social service provision and lifelong learning.
http://www.decentwork.org//index.php...om_content&task=view&id=12&Itemid=29
Published Tuesday, February 5, 2008 at 03:12
by rikke in New Social Europe ( comments)
More than 2,000 people have already showed their support for the Decent Work - Decent Life call for action on Facebook! Sign up for the cause using this link!
http://apps.facebook.com/causes/view_cause/19050?fb_page_id=9725810627&
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