Party of European Socialists

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Party of European Socialists
Sozialdemokratische Partei Europas Parti socialiste européen Partito Socialista Europeo Partido socialista europeo
President	Poul Nyrup Rasmussen MEP
Founded	1953 (Group) 1973 (Confederation) 1992 (Party)
Headquarters	Rue du Trône/Troonlaan, 98 1050 Brussels, Belgium
Political ideology	Social democracy
International affiliation	Socialist International
European Parliament group	Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats
Colours	Red
Website	http://www.pes.org
See also	Politics of the EU Political parties Elections

The Party of European Socialists (PES) is a European political party comprising thirty-two socialist, social democratic and labour parties from each European Union member state and Norway. The PES is led by President Poul Nyrup Rasmussen MEP. Its aims include:

• The strengthening of the socialist and social democratic movement in the Union and throughout Europe.
• The development of close working relationships between the national parties, the national parliamentary groups, the Parliamentary Group of the PES, PES Women, ECOSY, and other socialist and social democratic organisations.
• The definition of common policies for the European Union.
• The adoption of a common manifesto for elections to the European Parliament.

[edit] History

In 1961, the Socialists in the European Parliament attempted to produce a common European Socialist Programme but were neglected due to the applications of Britain, Denmark, Ireland and Norway to join the European Communities. The Socialist's 1962 congress pushed for greater democratisation and powers for Parliament though it was only in 1969 that this possibility was examined by the member states.

In 1973, Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom joined the European Community bringing in new parties from these countries. The enlarged Socialist Congress met in Bonn and inaugurated the Confederation of the Socialist Parties of the European Community. The Congress also passed a resolution on social policy, including the right to decent work, social security, democracy and equality in the European economy.^[1]

In 1978, the Confederation of Socialist Parties approved the first common European election Manifesto. It focused on several goals among which the most important were to ensure a right to decent work, fight pollution, end discrimination, protect the consumer and promote peace, human rights and civil liberties. The Luxembourg Congress approved the first Statue of the Confederation of Socialist Parties in 1980. The accession of Greece in 1981, followed by Spain and Portugal in 1986 brought in more parties. In 1984 another common Socialist election manifesto was approved at a congress in Luxembourg. The Manifesto proposed a socialist remedy for the economic crisis by establishing a link between industrial production, protection of the fundamental social benefits and the fight for an improved quality of life.^[1]

In 1992, with the European Communities becoming the European Union and with the Treaty of Maastricht establishing the framework for political parties at the European Level, the Confederation was able to mobilize a majority of delegates in favour of transforming the Confederation into the Party of European Socialists. The first programme of the party concentrated on job creation, democracy, gender equality, environmental and consumer protection, peace and security, regulation of immigration, discouragement of racism and fighting organised crime.^[1]

In 2004 Poul Nyrup Rasmussen defeated Giuliano Amato to be elected President of the PES, succeeding Robin Cook in the post. He was re-elected for a further 2.5 years at the PES Congress in Porto on 8 December 2006.

[edit] Presidents

Presidents of the Party of European Socialists and its predecessors.^[2]

President		State	National party	Term
1.	Wilhelm Dröscher	Germany	Social Democratic Party (SPD)	April 1974	January 1979
2.	Robert Pontillon	France	Socialist Party (PS)	January 1979	March 1980
3.	Joop den Uyl	Netherlands	Labour Party (PvdA)	March 1980	May 1987
4.	Vítor Constâncio	Portugal	Socialist Party (PS)	May 1987	January 1989
5.	Guy Spitaels	Belgium	Socialist Party (PS)	February 1989	May 1992
6.	Willy Claes	Belgium	Socialist Party (SP)	November 1992	October 1994
7.	Rudolf Scharping	Germany	Social Democratic Party (SPD)	March 1995	May 2001
8.	Robin Cook	United Kingdom	Labour Party	May 2001	April 2004
9.	Poul Nyrup Rasmussen	Denmark	Social Democrats (SD)	April 2004	-

[edit] Organisation

Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, the current PES President

There are thirty-two member parties from all the twenty-seven member states and Norway. There are a further five associate and six observer parties. PES is an associated organisation of the Socialist International. Ecosy is the youth organisation of PES and PES Women is the party's women's organisation, led by Zita Gurmai MEP.^[3]

The parties meet at the party Congress twice every five years to decide on political orientation, such as adopting manifestos ahead of elections. Every year that the Congress does not meet, the Council (a quarter Congress) shapes PES policy. The Congress also elects the party's President, Vice Presidents and the Presidency.^[3]

The most recent Council was held in Madrid in December 2008 and the next Congress with be held in Prague in late 2009.

The President (currently former Danish Prime Minister Poul Nyrup Rasmussen) represents the party on a daily basis and chairs the Presidency, which also consists of the Secretary General, President of the PES group in Parliament (the PSE, see below) and one representative per full member party and organisation. They may also be joined by the President of the European Parliament (if a PES member), a PES European Commissioner and a representatives from associate parties and organisations.^[3]

The Leader's Conference brings together Prime Ministers and Party Leaders from PES parties three to four times a year to agree strategies and resolutions.^[3]

[edit] PES in the European institutions

[edit] European Parliament

[edit] European Commission

European Commissioners are meant to remain independent, however there has been an increasing degree of politicisation within the Commission.^[4] Although the current Barroso Commission is dominated by conservatives and liberals, six of the twenty-seven Commissioners belong to PES. These are First Vice-President Margot Wallström, Vice-President Günter Verheugen (Enterprise & Industry), Commissioner Joaquín Almunia (Economy), Commissioner Catherine Ashton (Trade), Commissioner Vladimír Špidla (Social) and Commissioner László Kovács (Taxation).^[5]

[edit] European Council

Party-alignment at the European Council is often loose, but has been the basis of some intergovernmental cooperation. At present the following countries are led by a PES-affiliated leader, who represents that state at the European Council: Bulgaria (Sergey Stanishev), Hungary (Gordon Banjai)Portugal (José Sócrates), Slovakia (Robert Fico), Spain (José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero) and United Kingdom (Gordon Brown). The makeup of national delegations to the Council of Ministers is at some times subject to coalitions: for the above governments led by a PES party, that party may not be present in all Council configurations; in other governments led by non-PES parties a PES minister may be its representative for certain portfolios. PES is in coalition in a further six countries: Belgium, Cyprus, Finland, Germany, Italy and Luxembourg.^[5]

[edit] Committee of the Regions

PES has 110 members in the Committee of the Regions as of 2007.^[5]

[edit] Member parties

With 32 members it is the only political party to have a member from every EU state, although not all of them have elected MEPs.^[6]

State	Name (national language)	Name (English)	abbr.	MEPs
Austria	Sozialdemokratische Partei Österreichs	Social Democratic Party of Austria	SPÖ	7
Belgium (Flanders)	Socialistische Partij Anders	Socialist Party Different	SPa	3
Belgium (Wallonia)	Parti Socialiste	Socialist Party	PS	4
Bulgaria	Българска социалистическа партия Bălgarska Socialističeska Partija	Bulgarian Socialist Party	BSP	5
Cyprus	Κίνημα Σοσιαλδημοκρατών Kínima Sosialdimokratón	Movement for Social Democracy	EDEK	1[7]
Czech Republic	Česká strana sociálně demokratická	Czech Social Democratic Party	ČSSD	2
Denmark	Socialdemokraterne	Social Democrats	SD	5
Estonia	Sotsiaaldemokraatlik Erakond	Social Democratic Party	SDE	3
Finland	Suomen Sosialidemokraattinen Puolue	Social Democratic Party of Finland	SDP	3
France	Parti Socialiste	Socialist Party	PS	31
Germany	Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands	Social Democratic Party of Germany	SPD	24[8]
Greece	Πανελλήνιο Σοσιαλιστικό Κίνημα Panellínio Sosialistikó Kínima	Panhellenic Socialist Movement	PASOK	8
Hungary	Magyar Szocialista Párt	Hungarian Socialist Party	MSZP	9
	Magyarországi Szociáldemokrata Párt	Hungarian Social Democratic Party	MSZDP	0
Ireland	Páirtí an Lucht Oibre / Labour Party	Labour Party	Lab.	3
Italy	Partito Socialista	Socialist Party	PSI	4
Latvia	Latvijas Sociāldemokrātiskā Strādnieku Partija	Social Democratic Workers' Party of Latvia	LSDSP	0
Lithuania	Lietuvos Socialdemokratų Partija	Social Democratic Party of Lithuania	LSDP	2
Luxembourg	Lëtzebuerger Sozialistesch Arbechterpartei	Luxembourg Socialist Workers' Party	LSAP	1
Malta	Partit Laburista	Labour Party	PL	3
Netherlands	Partij van de Arbeid	Labour Party	PvdA	7
Norway	Det norske Arbeiderparti	Norwegian Labour Party	DNA	N/A[9]
Poland	Sojusz Lewicy Demokratycznej	Democratic Left Alliance	SLD	5
	Unia Pracy	Labour Union	UP	0
Portugal	Partido Socialista	Socialist Party	PS	12
Romania	Partidul Social Democrat	Social Democratic Party	PSD	10
Slovakia	Smer – sociálna demokracia[10]	Direction - social democracy	Smer	3
Slovenia	Socialni demokrati	Social Democrats	SD	1
Spain	Partido Socialista Obrero Español	Spanish Socialist Workers' Party	PSOE	24
Sweden	Sveriges socialdemokratiska arbetareparti	Social Democratic Workers' Party of Sweden	SAP	5
United Kingdom (Great Britain)	Labour Party		LP	19
United Kingdom (Northern Ireland)	Social Democratic and Labour Party		SDLP	0

[edit] Observer parties

State	Name (original language)	Name (English)	abbr.	Status
Andorra	Partit Socialdemòcrata	Social Democratic Party	PS	Observer
Bosnia and Herzegovina	Socijaldemokratska Partija BiH	Social Democratic Party	SDP	Observer
Iceland	Samfylkingin	Social Democrat Alliance	S	Observer
Israel	העבודה Ha'Avoda	Labour Party	LP	Observer
	מרצ Meretz-Yachad	Vitality - Together	MY	Observer
San Marino	Partito dei Socialisti e dei Democratici	Party of Socialists and Democrats	PSD	Observer
Serbia	Демократска странка Demokratska stranka	Democratic Party	DS	Observer

[edit] Associated parties

State	Name (original language)	Name (English)	abbr.	Status
Bulgaria	Партия Български социалдемократи Partija Balgarski socialdemokrati	Party of Bulgarian Social Democrats	PBS	Associate
Croatia	Socijaldemokratska Partija Hrvatske	Social Democratic Party of Croatia	SDP	Associate
Switzerland	Sozialdemokratische Partei der Schweiz / Parti socialiste suisse	Social Democratic Party of Switzerland	SP/PS	Associate
Turkey	Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi	Republican People's Party	CHP	Associate
Turkey	Demokratik Toplum Partisi	Democratic Society Party	DTP	Associate

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Party of European Socialists, official website
• Parliamentary Group of the Party of European Socialists, official website
• 2009 Manifesto consultation, PES website
• PES Manifesto, PES blog
• PES Group in the Committee of the Regions, official website