Brussels, 02/05/2002 (Agence Europe) - The Socialist Group of the European Parliament is this week organising a special meeting in Seville, mainly devoted to reflection on what the group can do, in its capacity as a transnational permanently operating body, to effectively combat the slide to the right at political level, Martin Schulz, German Social Democrat and Vice-President of the Group, told a small number of journalists. Mr Schulz reproached the EPP member parties for having made extreme right populism "respectable". After the "massive excitement" over the Austrian affair, there has been a certain amount of "getting used to it", he remarked, while recognising that Socialist and Social Democrat parties also share the responsibility.
The other main theme of the Seville meeting will be the situation in the Middle East, said Mr Schulz, who admitted the group was divided over this issue (as demonstrated by the vote on the resolution calling for suspension of the EU/Israel Association Agreement: see EUROPE of 11 April, p.4 and 12 April, p.5). Some of our colleagues wonder what we would do in Europe if we also had to face suicide attacks, noted Mr Schulz. Furthermore, he recalled that Avraham Burg, President of the Knesset, recently explained the "dilemma of Israeli workers" to MEPs in Brussels.