Published Thursday, May 15, 2008 at 15:32
by
Editor
in New Social Europe (56 views and 0 comments)
A New Social
Europe calls for solidarity between citizens of all ages.Published Wednesday, May 14, 2008 at 10:36
by
Editor
in New Social Europe (103 views and 1 comments)
Last Wednesday
evening around 18h30. In the renovated Brigittines chapel in
Brussels Sp.a co-workers are getting nervous. This
evening we present our input for the PES manifesto. We have
worked hard to provide for an interesting program (attached), but
can it compete with the beautiful spring evening?
At 7 o’clock our fears prove to be unfounded. Sp.a International
Secretary Saïd
El Khadraoui can introduce the evening before approximately
80 people. We kick off with a debate about New Social
Europe. Europe has done pioneering work on certain domains,
but it turns out that a lot more can be gained at European level.
For example, the health services directive that we are still
waiting for. There is no discussion about the need for a more
social approach of the Lisbon objectives. But ambitious and
enforceable European objectives concerning social themes are a
logical next step. The conclusions run parallel: Europe has a lot
of instruments at his disposal, but lacks ambition and
decisiveness when it comes to social themes. Political action
pays off, that becomes clear in dossiers such as the adjusted
Bolkenstein directive. As...
Tags: democracy, energy, environment, health, political parties, transparency, treaty, welfare
File:
manifesto_spa_FR.pdf,
flyer_spa.pdf
Published Tuesday, May 6, 2008 at 10:56
by
asa.westlund 
in New Social Europe (183 views and 1 comments)
Published Monday, April 28, 2008 at 14:45
by
eromerof
in New Social Europe (273 views and 2 comments)
Nowadays, the panorama of the left in Europe does not seem to be very tempting. Only 7 out of 27 countries belonging to EU are ruled by socialist parties. These are: United Kingdom, Portugal, Spain, Hungary, Bulgaria, Lithuania and Cyprus. We could argue that there is a lack of real political leadership, a leadership that in other decades was embodied by politicians such as Francois Mitterrand.
The political victory of Zapatero in Spain last march gives the Spanish socialism a great opportunity to implement and develop politics that can be seen as an example for other European countries. It generates a new opportunity to take the initiative in the European context. Whereas the majority of countries in South America are governed by left parties, sometimes with a strong and questionable populist sense, and whereas United States are given an opportunity to give the power again to the Democratic party, regardless of whether Clinton or Obama wins, the European left movement needs to reshape its political agenda, taking the initiative and dismantling the demagogic and populist discourse of conservative countries, too much focused on very sensitive and easy to be manipulated issues such as security, migration, taxes...
From a Spanish perspective, I would like to introduce some of the main points for a socialist agenda. An...
read morePublished Monday, April 28, 2008 at 14:33
by
raphi sternfeld
in New Social Europe (235 views and 2 comments)
Tags: elderly, food crisis, welfare
File:
Hungerkrise_DE.pdf
Published Monday, April 21, 2008 at 16:05
by
Editor
in New Social Europe (323 views and 5 comments)
Published Friday, April 11, 2008 at 10:31
by
noelhatch
in New Social Europe (240 views and 0 comments)
However, the economic layers of governance have been eroded by
globalisation. There is an increased pressure on costs. If we
debate the reform of the European social model, we need to debate
the reform of globalisation. Economic globalisation increases
within and between countries.
How can we develop a politics of international
redistribution?
Henning proposed that we needed a politics of national and
international redistribution - we need to explore a global social
politics. This includes:
Published Thursday, April 10, 2008 at 16:46
by
noelhatch
in New Social Europe (244 views and 0 comments)
See more of his proposals and his debate here:
read more
Published Thursday, April 10, 2008 at 10:44
by
noelhatch
in New Social Europe (294 views and 3 comments)
Deborah Littman, Chair of London
Citizens Living Wage Network & UNISON
National Officer for Bargaining, at the New Social Europe debate in London, admitted she wholly agreed with many of
the proposals made in the New Social Europe discussion paper. But she
was concerned on how we get there, how we make social Europe a
concern for everyone.
Work has been made insecure, the social wage has been reduced and
there has been a steep decline in bargaining power from workers.
Communities have been dismantled, workers distanced from their
employers or contractors. There has been a very deliberate policy
to push back the gains of the workers, often by stealth.
Expectations have been constantly lowered to the extent that our
goal becomes not how we can make it better, but how can we
prevent it being that bad. How can you organise when you don’t
know who you’re actually working for? The trade unions struggle
with bargaining, sometimes too conservative in their approach.
The game has changed – we need to...
Published Tuesday, April 8, 2008 at 12:00
by
noelhatch
in New Social Europe (185 views and 0 comments)
Published Friday, April 4, 2008 at 11:43
by
Editor
in New Social Europe (275 views and 0 comments)
What is the future
of social democracy in Estonia and Europe? This was the big
question posed at conference in Tallinn, Estonia Friday 28
March?. More than 200 people took the opportunity to discuss how
Europe’s social democrats should approach the future. Many
prominent guests were among the speakers: Toomas Hendrik Ilves,
President of the Republic of Estonia, Ivari Padar, leader of the
Estonian Social Democratic Party, Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, PES
President and Zita Gurmai, President of PES Women.
During the speech of the PES President he invited all Estonian
social democrats to share their ideas for the PES manifesto – at
the conference as well as here on Yourspace. With only 1.4
million citizens this Baltic country is one of Europe’s smallest
nations, but there are certainly lots of visions and ideas to be
found in Estonia.
A much debated topic was the introduction of ‘flexicurity’ in
Estonia and the rest of Europe. Flexicurity is a combination of
flexibility and social security. Successfully combining
flexibility and high social benefits leads to both economic
growth and high employment – as in the case of Denmark where
flexicurity was introduced in the 1990s. Unfortunately,
conservatives often view flexicurity as an excuse just to
introduce more liberal labour laws....
Published Wednesday, March 26, 2008 at 16:33
by
Editor
in New Social Europe (289 views and 0 comments)
Here is the last of
four reports from the manifesto debate in Denmark:
The manifesto theme 'New Social Europe' was one of the topics of
discussion when PES activists from Denmark, Sweden and Norway met
in Jørlunde, Denmark on March 1st and 2nd 2008. Here are the
conclusions from this dedicated discussion group:
Ole Christensen, MEP, introduced the workshop by speaking about
labour market policy in a new social Europe. One of the main
focuses was the role of Court of Justice in connection to the
Vaxholm case regarding the labour market models in the Nordic
countries.
The case was seen in connection to the increased mobility, out
posting of labour and the terms offered the employees as well as
the competition between foreign and domestic labour in relation
to collective bargaining.
The focus was also on the Danish labour market model and
flexicurity, the role of the parties within the labour market,
the social dialogue, rights and duties.
These great social democratic challenges were highlighted during
the discussion:
Published Wednesday, March 26, 2008 at 15:04
by
ania_skrzypek
in New Social Europe (363 views and 3 comments)
Not a long time ago,
by November 2007, ECOSY celebrated its 15 years anniversary. For that
occasion we asked our members why they joined the movement. Among
many answers the leading one was undoubtedly: because I wanted to
make a difference, because I wanted to change… Naïve? I would not
say so – I’d rather claim ‘refreshing to remember’, inspiring!
Now “New” usually stands for something that is different from
everything we know, that can give a potential hope – which is why
the "New Social Europe" seem to be the hope to
re-boost the discussion on what is the absolutely unique project
of Socialists and Social Democrats for Europe.
We know that the world has changed – we read that in every paper,
together with acknowledgements of all the threats that not only
hide in every corner, but even enter our houses; like
globalization that we voluntarily participate in each day when
switching the TV on. Everything is unstable, insecure,
questionable – and Superman or Spiderman seem up to date enough
to save us.
I am convinced that instead of a bunch of Armageddon tricks, we
need a vision that appeals to people, that...
Published Tuesday, March 25, 2008 at 11:03
by
phoenix999
in New Social Europe (431 views and 12 comments)
Hello,
A few months ago I had to change my cell phone and I purchased a Nokia phone. After that, I learned that Nokia was leaving Germany with the money of the Germans, leaving Germany for Romania because salaries and wages there were, in euros, FOUR times lower. "What a social Europe !" I said to myself then. If I had known that piece of news earlier, I would have joined the Germans in the Nokia boycott. Anyway I signed the German petition FOR the boycott. But things are changing and Europe is not just a huge market place, not yet : the Romanian automobile workers have decided to go on strike because their wages were too LOW whereas the auto company was making a huge profit with their low standard cars. There, we have two choices left, yes WE, us, Europeans, have one alternative:
- Either we choose to follow the media and think : Let's keep these poor fellas underpaid, because there will be a big competition with Morocco or India or whatever, and there, they pay even lower salaries (when and where, in the World, does it end ?);
- Or, we decide to make a political DECISION : We agree on a decent minimum wage across the whole European Union and we, Europeans, TAX importations from the poor countries where they pay their salaried slaves literally nothing and exploit women and small children. This is our last chance if we want a social Europe and there, as an exception to the rule, I'll quote George W Bush : ' Our living standards are...
read morePublished Tuesday, March 25, 2008 at 09:40
by
Editor
in In the spotlight (318 views and 1 comments)
A group of German PES activists are the first to send in a paper
with ideas for the PES manifesto. Read the German contribution in the documents section of
Yourspace.
The EU working group from the SPD in Berlin proposes eight 'building
blocks' for the PES manifesto:
Published Thursday, March 20, 2008 at 14:20
by
Poul_Nyrup_Rasmussen
in New Social Europe (372 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...
Published Friday, March 14, 2008 at 16:02
by
Editor
in Save our planet (354 views and 0 comments)
At yesterday’s meeting of socialist and
social democratic prime ministers smart green growth was one of the
big topics.Published Tuesday, March 11, 2008 at 10:00
by
carl0s
in New Social Europe (476 views and 3 comments)
In the Labour Party
we have always thought of full employment as a desirable goal. This
reflects the influence of those such as Keynes and Galbraith on our
thinking (despite Keynes being a Liberal). It also reflects the
localized depressions of the 1930s, 1980s and 1990s where classical
and neo-classical economics failed so many people. Simple fact:
markets are prone to failure. We should not let any prior
commitments prevent us from offering clear, humane alternatives
should this failure happen again. Around Europe, most people will
look to socialist parties to help them.Published Saturday, March 1, 2008 at 18:32
by
rikkeindenmark
in New Social Europe (455 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 Tuesday, November 27, 2007 at 10:26
by
carl0s
in New Social Europe (524 views and 0 comments)
I think we can identify four distinct "stages" where people make the most use of public services, particularly in regard to welfare and education services. They are not necessarily sequential. Firstly, from childhood to early adulthood, people need free-at-point-of-use education - its important that this is not only of academic quality, but also that the environment results in a decent formative experience. Secondly, families with a young child need a lot of support, from the birth through to free childcare. Thirdly, people with illness at any time in their lives should not be thrown back on the resources of the family, as the fear that this engenders will act to the detriment of general public health. And lastly, people who have finished work will need a future where they aren't worried about subsistence living. That way, younger people can look to the future with a degree of confidence.
If I'm stating the obvious here, then apologies. But for all four of these stages, there is no indication that private schemes or private insurance can adequately and securely provide for individuals. Private involvement at these times always involves public provision at some stage - for example, someone with health insurance always goes to their local hospital in an emergency. My belief is that public hospitals should not be charging their patients for care.
By combining health and social services for these different groups it should be possible to treat everyone...
read morePublished Thursday, November 15, 2007 at 16:10
by
joelld
in New Social Europe (774 views and 5 comments)
The PES discussion paper on "New Social Europe" presents a comprehensive
approach to social policy in Europe. We social democrats are
convinced that all the answers to all the problems of European
citizens in their work life and their social life are part of the
same social policy concept. For this reason, Rainbow
Rose, the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender network of
the PES, is glad to see that inequalities among workers are
mentioned in the discussion papers, as well as "the social
security rights of employees, the self-employed and their
families." We believe that addressing these problems is
necessary to build the inclusive society we want, with equal
rights and duties for all.
That's why, at the side of gender inequality, which is explicitly and rightly mentioned, we would like to make sure that all other grounds for discriminations are also addressed by the PES manifesto. We would like to see homophobia and transphobia mentioned explicitly. We think it is important that the manifesto stresses that gays, lesbians and transgender should have the same rights as all other citizens to be protected against discrimination at work and in the access to all public and...
read moreTags: discrimination, diversity, equality, gay, LGBT, public services, welfare
File:
PES Group statement on the outcome of the conference on the year of equal opportunities.pdf
Published Wednesday, November 14, 2007 at 14:27
by
anqa
in New Social Europe (616 views and 0 comments)
Another visit to the office of Marek Siwiec, Vice-President of the European Parliament and member of SLD in Poland. Among other things he raises the question of how we can make the vision of New Social Europe a reality in all EU countries.
How do you think we can assure high social standards in both new and old member states?
read morePublished Monday, November 12, 2007 at 15:27
by
Editor
in New Social Europe (511 views and 0 comments)
Published Thursday, November 8, 2007 at 20:49
by
jonathanbishop
in New Social Europe (646 views and 1 comments)
Increasingly large
companies are saying that manufacturing plants are not making
enough profit and are inefficient. They give these as reasons to
close plants and relocate the jobs. This is affecting large
numbers of workers who are working their hardest for these profit
greedy enterprises who have disregard for social responsibility.
This is not sustainable, as the drive for greater integration means that workers will have a decent standard of living across the EU and these moves by large companies are causing instability in the common market.
The Acquired Rights Directive has given workers rights to have their contracts transferred when the company they are working for has been bought by another. The same legal base could be used to give workers who are going to lose their jobs because of a company closing the plant they work in the right to take over the plant by acquiring all the machinery and other equipment in a worker buyout to form for example a workers' co-operative.
read morePublished Thursday, November 8, 2007 at 10:39
by
Editor
in New Social Europe (492 views and 0 comments)
Published Monday, November 5, 2007 at 14:23
by
Editor
in New Social Europe (464 views and 0 comments)
We talked to José Vieira da Silva, Minister of Labour in Portugal, at last week's conference about Decent Work in Lisbon.
read more
Published Monday, November 5, 2007 at 11:29
by
Editor
in New Social Europe (707 views and 1 comments)
Thanks to Labour MEPs Richard
Corbett and Linda McAvan for dedicating an hour of their
Yorkshire Regional Policy Forum to a discussion on the PES
manifesto.
Workers rights, a stronger commitment to a fair living wage, and
equality in the workplace were among the issues raised by the
audience alongside many questions about how the PES manifesto2009
consultation would work.
The consultation was welcomed by former MEP David Bowe who
suggested that the consultation should have add a new theme of
‘making Europe work’ (i.e. implementing all EU rules properly in
all countries). Rounding off the discussion was MP and former
Europe Minister Dennis McShane who told the meeting that Europe
was a ‘wedge’ issue between Labour and the increasingly
isolationist conservatives.
The meeting, which took place on November 3rd in Sheffield, also
featured a workshop on ‘An Environmental Union: the EU and
climate change’.
Published Tuesday, October 30, 2007 at 22:41
by
estherbcn326
in New Social Europe (842 views and 0 comments)
The debate on the economic and social model that Catalonia needs cannot be held without taking into account the political strategy of the European Union in this field. In fact, since some years ago, the globalized world in which we live has made necessary for the Catalan economy to add its weight to the total weight of the European countries that conforms the Union, so as to reinforce its participation in the world market.
For much of its recent history, the European Union has been a
driving force of social and economic progress crucial for our
development. Until 2000, Directives such as the Equal Pay
Directive for men and women (1975), the Directive on the
protection of workers' health and safety at the workplace (1989),
the Directive protecting the rights of workers posted in another
Member State (1996) and the antidiscrimination Directives for
racial and employment equality (2000), brought big advances in
cohesion and in the quality of life for Europe's citizens.
However, from 2002 on, Europe has seen few significant social
policy initiatives, and this passivity –both from the European
Commission and the Members States- has concurred with an increase
of the socioeconomic tensions caused by the impact of
globalization in the labour market, with the massive introduction
of new technology penetrating every part of our economies,...
Tags: education, employment, equality, welfare
File:
Catalonia in the New Social Europe301007.doc
Published Friday, October 26, 2007 at 09:40
by
lubraneski
in New Social Europe (883 views and 2 comments)
L'adage populaire est-il prêt de s'éteindre?
La division "conditions de vie des ménages" de l'INSEE nous livre aujourd'hui les résultats d'une enquête sur la santé des plus pauvres d'entre nous. Exempt d'être traité de gauchiste, et scientifiquement plus opérationnel que les instituts de sondage, l'Institut National des Statistiques et des Etudes Economiques rend compte, avec cette étude, d'une situation extrêmement grave, qui, pour ceux d'entre nous qui y sont confrontés de plus près, n'est pas étonnante.
Elle n'est pas étonnante, mais elle est pour autant inadmissible. Inadmissible dans un pays développé comme le nôtre et disposant, contre toute idée reçue qu'un gouvernement voué à la classe dominante voudrait nous vendre, de marges de manoeuvre qui existent bel et bien au budget de la France (lire à ce sujet les "10+1 questions sur la dette à Liêm Hoang Ngoc" - éd. Michalon).
L'analyse des résultats, que vous trouverez ci-après, met le doigt sur l'absence de prévention chez les ménages les plus...
read morePublished Wednesday, October 24, 2007 at 11:31
by
carl0s
in New Social Europe (641 views and 2 comments)
So much rhetoric
seems to be aimed at the aspirational middle class. Isn't there a
distinct danger that we alienate those who aren't especially
interested in academic pursuits? Or those who, because of
temperament or necessity, prefer not to work in offices?
When we hear our "leftist" politicians declare that the welfare state is dead, we should expect that stable, safe and well-paid employment should be available to all - or prepare for some dire consequences! Anyone with a conception of history knows what happens without a welfare state and how inequalities in health and life are entrenched.
Whilst graduates from top universities and schools may account for a large proportion of our parties' leadership, this does not represent the population as a whole, in the UK, or anywhere around the EU!
So we need checks on the casualisation of labour across the EU and tight regulation of the employment agencies which have become so profitable over the last few years. Full rights for temporary workers from day one, and the extension of the "ECDL" concept to cover trades and semi-skilled occupations.
Human nature being what it is, the era of protection at work, in health or in school... has not ended.
read morePublished Tuesday, November 30, 1999 at 00:00
by mochinho in New Social Europe ( comments)
In the section "Europa" one can find a short article about the activists kick-off meeting in Brussels in last October. It shows that the PES activists act commonly throughout Europe. For socialist successes in elections it is important that there are signals that socialists act as a whole. My report has the intention to send these signals to the addressees.
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