PES Manifesto

Karlstad, Sweden: progressive politics should address the big questions

Publié lundi 29 octobre 2007 à 14h06
par Editeur (vu 1212 fois et 0 commentaires)

”Today Arena Europe has turned into a meeting place for world leaders. This makes it even more important for us as social democrats to have a policy that addresses the big questions,” said Inger Segelström during this weekend’s ‘Palme Days’ in Karlstad, Sweden.

Inger Segelström is a member of the European Parliament and represents the Social Democratic Party of Sweden. In her speech at the Palme Days she invited all socialists and social democrats in Europe to take part in the debate about a common manifesto for the European elections in 2009.

Margot Wallström, vice president of the European Commission, also spoke at Palme Days. In the same spirit as other speakers she explained:

”Alone is not strong - social democrats have always built their peace efforts and their international commitment on collaboration. Now social democrats need to formulate political visions for Europe and the world - together with both members and voters”

According to Margot Wallström studies show that a great part of Europe’s citizens would like the EU to speak with one voice in the world, that the 27 member countries, the reunited Europe should be active in solving the world’s big problems.

But Margot also noted that citizens want this common voice to be shaped in an open dialogue. Democracy is change and politics are better when many people take part in shaping them. This demands cooperation across traditional borders between countries and parties.

The Commissioner also encouraged everyone to take part in the debate about European politics.

The theme of this year’s Palme Days was “Peace and reconciliation”. Palme Days is a yearly event named after Sweden’s former Prime Minister Olof Palme.

Tags: démocratie, mondialisation, paix, solidarité