A social democratic manifesto.
| Author | Schoibl, David |
The 2009 elections for the European Parliament offer a unique opportunity to reassert a progressive agenda for Europe.
The European Parliament creates the possibility of working collaboratively with European sister parties on regulatory frameworks which cover those areas where national legislation cannot exclusively solve today's challenges--such as climate change, global inequality, and a progressive response to the challenges of globalisation, to name but a few.
Europe in the balance
In the late 1990s a strong progressive agenda in Europe resulted in numerous directives and regulations which had a highly positive impact on the UK--the social charter, health and safety legislation, consumer protection, and many more.
Since the 2004 election, however, the European conservatives (EPP-ED) have dominated the European Parliament with a relative majority, which has seen them pursue market liberal policies in cooperation with the liberals (ALDE). This is in line with a shift towards the right across large parts of Europe. There is also a conservative majority in the European Council and an increasing number of member state governments are run by centre-right coalitions. In line with the trend, Emanuel Barroso, a conservative, has been President of the European Commission and a majority of Commissioners in the Barroso Commission are equally on the centre-right.
As a consequence, the left in Europe has found it more difficult to progress a social agenda than before, and if it does, its impact is often thwarted by some national governments choosing to opt out of parts of it.
Strengthening the socialist group in the European Parliament could counter this trend towards market-liberal, centre-right politics in Europe. The Lisbon treaty gives parliament a greater say in the selection of Commission President. Although majorities at the level of member states, and therefore also at the level of the Council, are not influenced by European Elections, a socialist group majority in Parliament would help reshape European policy for the better and counter-balance some of the conservative dominance at memberstate and Commission level.
Re-articulating national and European politics
Ahead of the last European Parliamentary elections in 2004, the manifesto of the Party of European Socialists (PES), the umbrella body for socialist and social democratic parties in Europe, was drafted by a handful of PES staff and officers around then PES president Robin Cook. In the run-up to the election, member parties seemed to feel little connection with the document. This led to European election campaigns which were predominately fought on national issues, with the pan-European perspective being almost completely missing.
In the current climate, European elections are always likely to be treated by some as a referendum on the member states' government of the day, or alternatively on EU-membership in general. This is...
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