PES President: Globalization calls for a strong PES

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Rating: 4/5 with 8 votes

Published Thursday, March 20, 2008 at 14:20
by Poul_Nyrup_Rasmussen Join PES activists in New Social Europe (564 views and 1 comments)

I agree with our PES activist when he writes that we need a strong PES to counterweight global capitalism.

Last summer I presented, together with my colleague Ieke van den Burg from the Socialist Group in the European Parliament, a report on private equity and hedge funds. In the last four years the financial market has grown 30 to 50 percent a year. Today it is no longer the real economy that controls the financial market – it is the other way around! The real economy is governed by nation states and the EU – but who decides on the financial market? The answer is, unfortunately, only a very few people behind closed doors. We in Europe made our democratic political choice in 2000 – with the so-called Lisbon goals – to safeguard the future of our welfare states with more and better jobs and social cohesion. This democratic political choice – made in the European Council – must be respected by all – including the big guys dominating the financial markets.

We need to make the market behave, the same way we have made our markets behave in our nation states and at the European level. The PES is currently establishing a financial market network which is to come up with concrete proposals to how we can deal with hedge and private equity funds.

The PES has also begun cooperating with the Democratic Party in the US. Hedge and private equity funds are a global problem and this is why the PES is working together with Congressman Barney Frank, Chairman of the Financial Committee of the US Congress. The issue is very complex, but there is a lot that Europe’s socialists and social democrats can do. We need to go on board in the financial sector.

Post cards from the PES President
This week Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, president of the Party of European Socialists, comments on some of the most popular posts on Yourspace. This is the fifth of six post cards from the PES President.

Tags: employment, investment, president, welfare

Comments

1. Globalization and stronger PES by reinlein Join PES activists on Friday, March 21, 2008 at 13:39

La gran cuestión es si los socialistas europeos sabremos y querremos pasar de los analisis a las estrategias y medidas concretas necesarias para que la globalización sea gobernada politicamente y no quede en manos solo de las fuerzas economicas como los mercados financieros. ¿Para cuando una representación unica de los países del euro en las instituciones financieras internacionales? ¿para cuando el impulso a un Consejo de Seguridad Económica en la ONU? ¿para cuando un control eficaz de los paraísos fiscales protegidos por países europeos? Las ideas están ahí lo que hace falta es voluntad política para impulsarlas.

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