Over 1,500 supporters now on Facebook

Over 1,500 supporters from all across Europe have now joined our Facebook campaign page. That puts us over half-way to our first main target of 3,000 supporters. It's great news and an indication of how important so many progressive citizens view the campaign to further democratise the Party of European Socialists.

The first big test for our campaign will take place next week when a campaign organiser will visit Brussels to lobby activists, MEPs, journalists and party officials on the Campaign for a PES Primary. The itinerary for the visit is as follows:

Wednesday 22nd September

11h00 to 17h00    meetings with officials and journalists
18h30 to 19h00    on-line conference with PES activist citygroups
19h00 to 21h00    debate at joint meeting of PES sister party branches

Thursday 23rd September

11h30 to 16h00   Meeting of the PES Network on Modernising Politics

This is the meeting at which a presentation will be given to PES officials and PES national party representatives about our call for the PES candidate for President of the European Commission in 2014 to be chosen by the individual members of the PES national parties in democractic primaries.

Friday 24th September

11h00 onwards (tbc)   Other meetings at PES head office.

If there are any campaign supporters or other citizens interested in the campaign who want to meet with us during the visit to Brussels please contact us at pesprimary (at) gmail.com

PES Leaders write to the Campaign

Poul Nyrup Rasmussen and Philip Cordery

Poul Nyrup Rasmussen (PES President) and Philip Cordery (PES Secretary General) have written a joint letter to the organisers of the Campaign for a PES Primary. Their letter came in response to letters written by Desmond O'Toole and José Reis Santos a couple of weeks ago formally advising the party leadership of the Campaign.

Over 200 supporters gained in last two days

That's 1,300 supporters who have now joined the Campaign for a PES Primary. We are well on our way to the half-way mark and we are so grateful to everyone for their solidarity and good wishes.

We also received formal confirmation from the PES head office today of the arrangements for the meeting in Brussels on the 23rd September. This is the meeting at which Desmond O'Toole will present our proposals for democratic primaries to select the PES candidate for President of the European Commission.

The meeting will last all day and will bring representatives of the PES national member parties together to discuss a number of subjects including the selection of the PES candidate for Commission President. There is a lot of work to be done to prepare the presentation, but all of the support that you are providing is a great encouragement to us as we build support for our proposals.

The PES is the first European party to discuss opening up the way that we will select our presidential candidate. It is a strong  indication of the strength of democracy in our party that PES activists are being asked to participate in this debate at such an early stage. With your continued support and with many more people joining us each day we will succeed in achieving our dream of a more democratic, open and inclusive Party of European Socialists.

Alegeri preliminare in PES, acum!

PES activists in Romania have been campaigning very strongly amongst their members for a democratic selection process to choose the PES candidate for European Commission President in 2014. Almost 20% of the supporters for our Facebook campaign are members of the Romanian Social Democratic Party (PSD); that's over 200 people. They have now taken their campaign to the PSD Summer School where they will be looking for even more people to sign up to support greater democracy in the PES.

In a blog article on their webpage entitled, "Alegeri preliminare in PES, acum!", Victor Negrescu (President-Coordinator, PES activists Romania) writes:

« Cred ca este timpul sa construim un nou nivel al democratiei, democratia europeana, iar PES trebuie sa fie in avantgarda politicii europene pentru a deveni un exemplu si a convinge europenii de seriozitatea ideilor si principiilor noastre de stanga. PES activists Romania va fi un puternic sustinator al acestui principiu iar campania de promovare de abia a inceput » declara Victor Negrescu, presedinte-coordonator national PES activists Romania.

PES activists Romania extinde participarea la campania europeana si va realiza o campanie proprie de promovare in interiorul Partidului Social Democrat dar si in randul populatiei din Romania. Prima etapa este realizarea unei campanii de promovare la Scoala de Vara a PSD, urmata de scrisori de sustinere catre leadershipul partidului

A leaflet has also been produced for circulation at the PSD Summer School which can be downloaded here.

Six weeks to gain 3,000 to 5,000 supporters. Yes, it really is that important.

Many thanks to you for all of your support for the Campaign for a PES Primary and for helping us to reach over 1,000 supporters on Facebook. In less than six weeks we have attracted the support of PES activists, public representatives and progressive citizens for our campaign for the PES to hold democratic primaries to select our candidate for the next Presidency of the European Commission.

That's over 1,000 people who want to put democracy first in the PES and to use that as a platform for Europe to take a new direction at the next European Parliament elections in 2014.

Our campaign is also attracting considerable comment in the European media. "Euobserver" and "EurActiv" have both carried articles on the campaign and "New Europe" has published an opinion piece in their newspaper on the work that we are doing. We are also seeing a lot of political interest in the campaign as MEPs and officials return from the Summer vacation.

This is important because we are now reaching the first big challenge for the campaign. In three weeks time, on the 23rd September, I will be presenting our proposals to an internal meeting of the PES in Brussels. Our aim is to ensure that the PES organisation and the PES national parties endorse our call for democratic primaries. While we have encountered no opposition to our proposals so far in the PES we cannot take anything for granted. This is a project with huge transformative potential but it requires hard work and dedication to ensure that we deliver our objectives.

That's why I have a request to make of you. The feedback I have received from across the PES is that while gaining over 1,000 supporters in six weeks is impressive, we need to attract betwen 3,000 and 5,000 people in order to make a real impact on the decision-makers in the PES national parties. I know that this will be a huge task, but it is essential to demonstrate the level of grassroots support for our ideas.

Can I therefore ask you to invite just 10 of your Facebook friends to join this campaign group. Don't just send them an invite ... please contact them individually and encourage them to sign up. It really is that important. And remember, we have less than three weeks to achieve this level of support. So please contact 10 of your Facebook friends today and ask them to support our campaign group.

When we make our presentation in Brussels we really need to be able to anticipate all possible objections. With thousands of people supporting the campaign we wil be able to make a much more convincing case for a democratic PES.

Amitiés socialistes ... Desmond.

Desmond O'Toole and José Reis Santos
Campaign for a PES Primary

PES website blogs the Campaign for a PES Primary

The campaign is delighted to report that the official PES website (www.pes.org) is now carrying a blog article describing the Campaign for a PES Primary. This is not OFFICIAL support for our campaign, but it does show the seriousness and credibility of what we are arguing for.

In an article entitled, "Activists float idea of PES Primaries", the PES blog notes:

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.

According to Desmond and José, the campaign’s objective is that the next PES Council, in Warsaw in December, agrees to schedule democratic primaries in every member party of the PES to select the candidate for Commission President. This call is based on Resolution 2 from PES Congress 2009 in Prague, in which it was agreed that giving a face to a political platform is imperative in today’s politics, especially in such difficult elections as the European ones. To tackle apathy at the European ballot box it was agreed to have a PES candidate for the European Commission Presidency.

Primaries are just one mechanism of choosing a candidate. In a paper by Dr. Ania Skrzypek, FEPS Policy Advisor, there are at least five methods suggested for selection. One thing is clear however, the goal is a landslide victory in 2014, how that goal is reached is going to be an exciting and engaging debate.

Pelas primárias para escolher o candidato do PES a Presidente da Comissão Europeia

A Portuguese language blog, Loja de Ideias, has picked up news of the Campaign for a PES Primary. The blog article reads:

Como sabem (e se não sabem, ficam a saber) está a haver um debate no seio do PES (Partido Europeu Socialista) sobre como decidir o próximo candidato do PES a Presidente da Comissão Europeia. Uma das propostas, apresentada por destacados membros do PES Activists (e um deles - o José Reis Santos - escreveu por aqui em tempos) é efectuar esta nomeação por eleições primárias nos vários partidos pertecentes ao PES.

The original article can be viewed here.