Brussels, 19/10/2010 (Agence Europe) - The Party of European Socialists (PES) and the European People's Party (EPP) have fallen out over how to react to xenophobic and racist parties. The Socialists have just adopted guidelines on how to tackle the rise of the extreme right in Europe. PES leader Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, the former prime minister of Denmark, has called on all European political groups to sign up to the principles contained in these guidelines. He was critical of moves made by the Dutch Christian Democrats, who have just concluded a governing pact with Geert Wilders' xenophobic, anti-Islamist party. EPP leader Wilfried Martens responded, pointing out in a press release, that on 3 October he had bemoaned the recent rise of political extremism in Europe. He claimed, therefore, that his group had acted first. Once the war of words calms down a little, will the Socialists and centrist, Christian-inspired parties manage to agree on a joint “code of conduct”?
The Socialist guidelines were approved last week at a meeting of the party's presidency in Brussels. The document, entitled “Confronting the extreme right in Europe: our way”, was discussed and adopted following elections in the Netherlands, Sweden and elsewhere, which have seen the emergence of extreme right-wing, xenophobic and racist parties, an indication of the shift in public opinion in the face of insecurity, immigration and economic problems.
Setting out the Socialist “code of conduct”, Rasmussen said: “All European parties should sign up to our plan to refuse to work with the extreme-right,” and he went on: “We in the social democratic family must show that there is another inclusive Europe that we can build”. The PES document and Rasmussen in his speech make specific reference to recent events in the Netherlands, where the Liberals and Christian Democrats have had to rely on the support of a xenophobic, anti-Islamist party to be able to form the government. The Socialists want to see the extreme right isolated rather than included.
The Socialists urge other political parties to sign up to the principles of the Charter of European Parties for a non-racist Society, adopted in 1998, which: - condemns all racist, xenophobic, discriminatory or nationalistic statements or actions; - excludes entering into a ruling coalition or electoral alliance with a party inciting or attempting to stir up racial or ethnic prejudices and racial hatred, at European or national levels; - refuses an implicit support from such a party; - opposes the legitimisation of such parties; - isolates members not respecting the above principles.
The reaction from Martens came on 18 October: he pointed out that he had stated at the start of this month that “it is the duty of the major political families in Europe to reflect and to combat jointly the rise of extremism”. Following his statement, he said he initiated a “discreet effort” to bring together the leaders of the main European parties - the Party of European Socialists (PES), the European Liberal Democrat and Reform party (ELDR), and the European Green Party (EGP) - to “establish a common framework for dialogue and to respond to this challenge”.
Martens continued: “The only leader who did not show any interest in this effort was PES President Poul Nyrup Rasmussen”. This lack of interest, the EPP leader argued, was because Socialists see the rise of extremism as an opportunity to promote their self-serving political interests. Over the last two weeks, he said, Rasmussen and the Socialists had tried to use the issue to repeatedly attack the EPP with various populist “cheap shots”. Finally, the PES “asked the EPP to sign-up to a declaration that basically accuses EPP governments for the rise of extremism in Europe. It is very disappointing to see the PES, Europe's second largest political party, trying to exploit the rise of extremism for political gain”.
Martens pointed out that, four years ago, “a leading PES member-party from Slovakia - the Socialist/populist SMER - had already been in a majority coalition with the ultra-nationalist anti-Hungarian SNS party until July 2010. Despite great resentment within the PES towards the SMER-SNS majority coalition, Rasmussen quickly rehabilitated his good friend and SMER leader Robert Fico by promoting him as a leading PES prime minister in all European fora, and supporting his failed 2010 election campaign”.
Expressing his disappointment over Rasmussen's rhetoric, Martens accuses this former prime minister of putting the focus during his failed 2001 campaign in Denmark “mainly on immigration and refugee issues to get re-elected, which ultimately worked to the benefit of the anti-immigration DF party”. (Gp/transl.rt)