Several social democratic politicians presented 110 measures to be taken at European level to achieve ‘sustainable equality’ on Tuesday 27 November in the European Parliament.
The report was prepared by a group of 30 leading figures, ‘experts’, group members of parliament and members of civil society close to the Social Democrats, in preparation for the announcement of the strategy for a long-term reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in the EU, which should be presented this Wednesday by the European Commission.
The 200-page text “could be a basis of reflexion by all progressive parties,” according to Louka Katseli, former Greek Minister of Economy and co-chair of the expert group.
Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, former Danish Prime Minister and co-chair of the expert group, listed the key measures in the report, from the creation of a new Europol specialising in the fight against money laundering and tax fraud, to the introduction of a minimum corporate tax, to the conditioning of large companies' access to the common market on their ‘ecological responsibility’.
"It’s not possible to save the planet without going to a new social and economic model," said Udo Bullmann, head of the S&D group in the European Parliament. He cited the example of the ‘yellow vest’ movement in France, which he said revealed the impossibility of “try[ing] to make environmental change against the people”.
Attacks against the Greens
When asked about the similarity between their political project and that of the Greens, the Social Democrats stressed the social dimension of their programme.
"Our action is aimed not only for the happy few, but for everyone,” Bullmann said, saying that “the Greens do not have a monopoly on climate change”.
“The Greens have no political results where social problems are deep,” added Mercedes Bresso (S&D, Italy), citing the examples of Italy and Romania.
However, Mr Bullmann mentioned the possibility of “talking” with the Greens, the GUE/NGL Group or the Liberals, “if they realise the mistake they have made in France”. (Original version in French by Mathieu Solal)