PES Resolution adopted at Warsaw Council

The PES Council has unanimously adopted a resolution establishing a working group under the leadership of Ruairi Quinn TD (Irish MP pictured opposite) to bring forward proposals for the selection of the PES candidate for President of the European Commission at the next European elections. This is a hugely historic decision which builds on the decision taken at the Prague Congress (December 2009) that the PES will present an agreed candidate for Commission President at the next elections in 2014.

There are no predicted outcomes to this process and the Campaign for a PES Primary will continue to campaign for the selection of our candidate for Commission President through democratic primaries. However, we warmly welcome the very important step forward that the PES Council has taken and look forward to submitting our proposals to the working group.

A copy of the full resoluton can be read here.

The members of the working group are listed below:

Chair

Ruairi Quinn                                Labour, Ireland

Members

Karl Duffek                                SPÖ Austria
Gilles Mahieu                              PS Belgium
Saïd El Khadraoui                      sp.A Belgium
Tero Shemeikka                         SDP Finland
Alain Richard                             PS France
Achim Post                                SPD Germany
Paulina Lampsa                         PASOK, Greece
Tibor Szanyi                              MSZP, Hungary
Piero Fassino                            PD Italy
Frans Timmermans                   PvdA, The Netherlands
Titus Corlatean                         PSD, Romania
Andrej Horvat                          SD, Slovenia
Diego Lopez Garrido                PSOE Spain
Ann Linde                                SAP, Sweden
Wayne David                           Labour, UK
Petroula Nteledimou                 ECOSY
Zita Gurmai                              PES Women
Martin Schulz                           S&D Group in the EP

Rapporteur

Philip Cordery                          PES

PES Presidency Resolution on selecting Commission candidate

The PES Council meeting in Warsaw is about to debate a PES Presidency resolution entitled, "A democratic and transparent process for designating the PES candidate for the European Commission Presidency." The draft resolution is not yet on line (I wil provide a link when it is published) but its key contents are as follows:

"We, European socialists and social democrats, will select our candidate through a democractic and transparent process. We will take this step towards a more democratic European Union in an open and confident approach ..."

"We will apply these principles to our own house and strengthen the internal democracy of the PES by bringing on board all our parties and all levels within the parties. Our common candidate will be chosen in an open way, we need to reinvigorate European citizens' engagement with European politics, and thus engage our members in one way or another. If we want to be a credible, modern and forward-looking alternative, the PES must have a democratic, transparent and inclusive process, which is both understandable and flexible and ensuring both the quality and the legitimacy of the candidate."

"Therefore, the PES sets up a Working Group "Candidate 2014", to discuss and propose a process. The discussion could include:
- the criteria to stand as a candidate, including proposals for endorsement
- the scope of the electorate
- the selection procedure
- the organisation and financing of the selection process
- a timetable for the selection"

"The decision on the process on how to select the PES common candidate will follow this timetable:
PES Council 2010: Establishment of the Working Group "Candidate 2014"
June 2011: Intermediary report of the Working Group "Candidate 2014" to the PES Presidency
September 2011: Final Report ... to the PES Presidency
PES Council 2011: Proposal from the PES Presidency to the Council. Adoption of the process by the Council"

The debate is to begin shortly ... follow its progress on www.pes.org or at www.twitter.com/pesprimary.

Blogging from the PES Council in Warsaw

Members of the Campaign for a PES Primary are blogging from the PES Council in a very cold and snowy Warsaw. You can follow our tweets here or on our Facebook page here.

Key events at the PES Council are:


Thursday (02 DEC)

13h00    Reception for PES activists from 13h00 in the main restaurant
18h00    Debate on  how the PES will select its candidate for Commission President
              (you can follow this debate almost live at www.pes.org)

Friday (03 DEC)  

13h00    Fringe meeting & Debate on how to select the PES candidate for Commission President

(this meeting wil be addressed by Desmond O'Toole and José Reis Santos of the Campaign for a PES Primary as well as PES activists from France and Paris-based think tanks active in this area).