Brussels, 11/03/2005 (Agence Europe) - The Social Democrats have already wasted too much time squabbling over Europe, allowing the Right to establish the European agenda, and the time has now come to present “both a vision and practical examples of European social democracy in action”, Martin Schulz, President of the European Socialist Group, said on Friday. Schulz was taking part at the annual spring colloquy at Kingston-upon-Thames in Surrey organised by the Policy Network whose honorary president is Commissioner Peter Mandelson. He noted that key tests for the European Socialists would be the French referendum on the European Constitution (29 May), German elections in Nordrhein-Westfalen (also in May), and a Labour victory in the UK's general election in 2006 with a successful British Presidency of the EU Council during the second half of this year. At the European Parliament, the Socialist group has for several months been trying to sharpen its political profile, he recalled, exclaiming: “In a sense, Mr Barroso has been good for us” as “his presidency has given us the opportunity to raise our profile outside the institutions and to make the political running in the house despite being only the second biggest group (Ed. After the EPP-ED) and having no automatic majority”. Martin Schulz welcomed the priority given by the British presidency of the G-8 to eradicating poverty in Africa and to climate change.
Other participants at the seminar included the former Italian Prime Minister, Giuliana Amato, the former European Commissioner Pascal Lamy, the former French European Affairs Minister and former MEP, Elisabeth Guigou, as well as British political pundit Anthony Giddens.