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Party
of European Socialists' Newsletter

5
September 2010

HOT TOPIC

An
Autumn of demos planned as social cost of austerity measures
grows

An autumn of social unrest in the
European Union has been predicted. Amid growing evidence that
the austerity measures imposed in the spring are having a negative
impact on employment rates, a series of major
demonstrations have been announced. On 29 September the
European Trade Union confederation (ETUC) will stage a demo in
Brussels. 80,000 workers are expected in the European capital.
The action, which calls for an end to austerity and a renewed
focus on job creation, will be accompanied by further rallies
and events which will take place throughout the European
Union.

Economy

PES
call for ‘a more balanced assessment’ of FTT at upcoming
ECOFIN’

The PES joins a
broad NGO coalition to ask for a fairer deal for
people and a just
taxation of financial actors as EU Economy and
Finance Ministers meet in Brussels on September
7th.

Social
Europe

French
Government anti-Roma drive is ‘debased populism’ - PES
President calls letter to EU Commission a blatant
attempt to legitimise national policy

“The French Government
anti-Roma policy is an affront to basic EU
standards and a form of debasing populism”, said
PES President, Poul Nyrup Rasmussen. “French
President Sarkozy’s support for these incendiary
policies while simultaneously stating that they
will not be dissuaded by opponents who just want
to cause controversy, is political cynicism of the
worst kind”.

World

PES
welcomes the resumption of direct peace negotiations
between Israel and Palestine

The PES welcomes the
decision to resume direct talks by Israel and
Palestine that started on 2nd September 2010 in
Washington DC. It is a positive step towards
achieving a lasting and comprehensive peace
agreement for the two countries and the region.
Following the phase of indirect talks, it now has
to be ensured that the outstanding issues
(Jerusalem, the refugee situation, borders and
security) are resolved in the most swiftly manner.
The PES supports the efforts of the Obama
Administration and the US Middle East Envoy
Senator Mitchell as well as the contribution of
the Arab League shown by the successful outcome of
the Foreign Ministers Meeting of 29 July 2010.

Environment

Calls
for carbon tax increase!

The PES demand for the
implementation of a European tax on carbon has
gained further prominent support, this time from a
rather unlikely source. A new study by Danish
Prof. Bjørn Lomberg, formerly known for his
sceptical views of man’s impact on the world’s
climate, calls for an annual investments to the
amount of $ 100 bn in funds directed towards
researching solutions for the challenges posed by
climate change. Lomberg proposes that half the
money required could be raised through a tax on
carbon.

EDITORIAL

Austerity
measures start to hurt growth in Europe
Poul Nyrup
Rasmussen, PES President

It is never particularly pleasant to say ‘I
told you so’ but in some cases the evidence is so stark
it is unavoidable. For months now, the PES has been
warning that drastic austerity measures and cuts to
public budgets, would hurt growth and slow down the
economy. In the last weeks we are starting to see
evidence that this is the case.

News from PES members

Socialist
Party's summer school at La Rochelle - "everyone
united against President Sarkozy's policies"

PES President shows support for
Catalonian
socialists ahead of regional elections

Forthcoming events

7 September - ECOFIN meeting

16 September - PES Prime
Ministers meeting

16 September - European Council

23 September - Modernizing
politics network

24 September - PES Communicators
seminar

29 September - ETUC Action
Day

Re:new

My
PES

Economy

Social
Europe

Environment

World

PES
Women

PES

More
news

Activists
float idea of PES Primaries

In an example of using social
networking to organising an activists campaign, on the 26th of
July a group of PES activists, led by Desmond O’Toole (Irish
Labour Party), and José Reis Santos (Portuguese Socialist
Party), launched a Campaign for a PES Primary on Facebook. So
far the Group has attracted over 1000 members and is
generating significant publicity with articles in New
Europe and euobserver, not to
mention blog articles by Jon
Worth, David
Chopin and Ralf
Grahn amongst others.

PES

Promoting
a ‘Train for Change’ in IFM summer camp

This summer the International
Falcon Movement – Socialist Educational International (IFM-SEI) gathered 800 young
people from all over the world in a “Train for
Change” (see video) –
a summer camp where young people could discover how to bring
social change into their societies.