Published Tuesday, April 15, 2008 at 11:49
by
Editor
in European democracy & diversity (830 views and 0 comments)
Published Monday, April 14, 2008 at 14:46
by
Pierre_Kanuty 
in EU in the world (753 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 (846 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 Thursday, April 3, 2008 at 09:57
by
Editor
in EU in the world (997 views and 0 comments)
Published Friday, March 28, 2008 at 15:30
by
ania_skrzypek
in EU in the world (1223 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 (1007 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 Wednesday, March 19, 2008 at 10:13
by
Poul_Nyrup_Rasmussen
in European democracy & diversity (777 views and 0 comments)
I would really take
this point about decent conditions for migration and integration of
migrants as one of the most important ones for the
future work of the PES. With the Lisbon Treaty, European
cooperation on migration will be reinforced and at the next meeting
of the PES Presidency we will have a debate on
migration and integration.Published Friday, March 7, 2008 at 09:24
by
Editor
in New Social Europe (541 views and 0 comments)
Following speeches by Foreign Secretary David Milliband, PES president Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, MEP Richard Howitt and European Young Socialists Secretary General Anya Szryzpek it was the turn of grassroots Labour Party members to have their say. Graham Lane from Newham, East London wanted EU agricultural funds used in a much better way, and had the support of David Morgan from the East Midlands and Jan Keen for cutting farm subsidies. Promoting decent work at home and abroad was a topic brought up by more than one speaker: improving working conditions in developing countries and acknowledging what the EU had done to improve workers rights and leave entitlement in Europe. Isobel Summers received strong support for asking for a clear commitment to end the farce of the European Parliament wasting € millions in commuting between Brussels and Strasbourg. Adam from the West Midlands wanted to know what the PES manifesto could do to promote further enlargement. These – and a Disability Directive – were the main policy proposals coming from Labour Party activists for the PES manifesto.
read morePublished Saturday, March 1, 2008 at 18:32
by
rikkeindenmark
in New Social Europe (1070 views and 0 comments)
The afternoon of the Danish conference on the PES manifesto ended with a plenary where the four work groups presented a ‘top 3’ of priorities for their manifesto theme. Here are, from my view, some of the most interesting ideas brought forward:
Published Friday, February 22, 2008 at 17:15
by
Editor
in EU in the world (1049 views and 0 comments)
Published Thursday, February 7, 2008 at 17:18
by
Editor
in EU in the world (842 views and 0 comments)
Published Wednesday, October 31, 2007 at 23:57
by
Editor
in New Social Europe (2050 views and 0 comments)
The “Putting the puzzle together: policy coherence for decent work” Conference organized by the Global Progressive Forum (GPF), International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), Solidar and Social Alert International took place today in Lisbon, Portugal, preceding the International Labour Confederation (ILO) forum on Decent Work for a fair globalization.
Among the participants, a strong presence of trade unionists, members of civil society organizations but also members of the Portuguese Presidency of the EU. All together they called for achieving Decent Work at global level – an essential condition to attain a fairer globalization.
Juan Somavia, Director-General of ILO, underlined the importance of creating alliances among progressive associations – and having them working together coherently according to a toolkit providing common guide-lines. Portuguese Minister of Labour and Social Solidarity, José Vieira da Silva, has also mentioned the Decent Work as a new global vision of development. The Portuguese Minister connected “Decent Work Decent Life” to the Lisbon Strategy, as the success of the external dimension of the Lisbon Strategy would permit to strongly support Decent Work at a global scale. Moreover, a new concept of sustainable development for the 21st century would comprehend three subjects: preserving the environment, assuring human rights but also making sure the agenda of Decent Work is put into...
read morePublished Tuesday, October 9, 2007 at 12:00
by
Editor
in New Social Europe (1503 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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