The first day of the Congress of the Party of European Socialists (PES), which takes place in Lisbon from 7 to 8 December, ended with the adoption of thematic resolutions to construct the manifesto for the party during the European elections. It also provided a forum for the short-lived PES list leader Maroš Šefčovič and British Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn.
According to the Communication Service, about a thousand people were expected to attend these two days, including MEPs, academics, trade union representatives and supporters. The party's 'top of the list' candidate, Spitzenkandidat Frans Timmermans, who was keeping away from the media, was scheduled to speak on Saturday.
Eight thematic resolutions
On Friday, December 7, the convention adopted a fifty-page document outlining the party's priorities. It is structured around 8 resolutions "which support each other", explained the chairman of the Parliamentary S&D group, Udo Bullmann. These eight resolutions will feed into the manifesto that the party will adopt in February 2019 in preparation for the May elections, which should not exceed ten pages in length.
Among the themes discussed were those of social Europe, European migration policy and economic issues. Many priorities are already being discussed at the moment, but are often blocked in the Council. Examples include the idea of quotas for women on boards of directors, a common consolidated corporate tax base, a financial transaction tax and a reform of the Dublin regulation on asylum.
On migration, which will undoubtedly be a central issue in the elections, the PES supports "a common response to common challenges and opportunities", but does not question its fundamental principle that the examination of an asylum application must be carried out in the first country to register the applicant's fingerprints. Failing this, the PES calls for compliance with international conventions, the improvement of legal migration channels (via means other than asylum applications) or the fair distribution of the migration 'burden'. It calls for the application of relocation and distribution systems and requires that there be "economic consequences" for countries that do not take their share.
On the economic and social front, the party supports the establishment of a European register of wages, wealth and tax systems to reflect the reality and effectiveness of taxation in Europe. At the same time, it calls for the creation of a eurozone budget and a permanent president of the Eurogroup, also a European Commissioner. It also calls for a protocol on social progress, which has been backed for more than a decade by European trade unions, to make it clear that neither economic freedoms nor competition should take precedence over fundamental social rights.
The other resolutions concern gender equality, ecology, democracy, youth and external relations.
The launch of an enthusiastic campaign
The speakers took the platform one after another throughout the day in an auditorium set up for the occasion in the University of Lisbon. "It is more inspiring, more dynamic than a 5-star hotel ", joked Udo Bullmann during his speech, riffing on his colleagues’ direct attacks on the EPP, which had organised its congress in a hotel. PES President, Sergei Stanishev, the only candidate to be re-elected to his post for the 7th time, criticised the EPP as “Orbanising itself" while Party Secretary General Achim Post deplored the lack of progressive EPP initiatives.
The speeches by Jeremy Corbyn and Maroš Šefčovič had not yet taken place as this edition went to press. (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)