Un calendar pentru alegerile primare europene

Dan Luca is the President of the Romanian Social Democratic Party section in Brussels. He also writes a blog at casaeuropei.blogspot.com where he discusses European and Romanian politics. In an article entitled "Un calendar pentru alegerile primare europene [tr. a timetable for EU primaries], Dan sets out a possible timetable for the selection process for the PES candidate for Commission President.

Dan suggests the following timetable:

By May 1, 2011 : Internal PES communication and develop selection process.

By October 1, 2011 : deadline for candidate applications.

By December 1, 2011 : validation of candidates.

2012: fundraising campaign by candidates.

2013: primary elections in the 27 EU countries; each country has a number of votes equal to the number of votes in the European Council.

March 2014 : European Socialist Convention officially designates the PES candidate for presidency of the European Commission.

Dan also comments:

Acum constat cu plăcere că cele sugerate intră în “dezbaterea socialistă”: Socialists want US-style primaries for commission president candidate. Sper din toată inima să se înţeleagă importanţa acestei posibile schimbări, nu doar pentru Stânga europeană, dar şi pentru construcţia europeană contemporană.

The rest of Dan's interesting article can be read here.

Europäische Sozialdemokraten fordern Vorwahlen für die nächste Kommission

europaeum, a German-language blogger, is writing on the Campaign for a PES Primary. europaeum raises some important questions about possible resistance from national parties and their leaders to the campaign demand that individual members of PES national parties should select our candidate for Commission President. However, the prize of this campaign is clearly described, especially the potential that democratic primaries have to enhance the elections to the European Parliament and contribute to the Parliament's development. europeaum writes:

Ich schätze die Chancen zwar eher gering, dass die nationalen Parteien eine solche Kampagne stützen, finde aber, dass die SPE es sich gar nicht leisten kann, weiterhin Kandidat_inn_en feranb der Öffentlichkeit in irgendwelchen Hinterzimmern zu bestimmen, wenn überhaupt. Eine parteiöffentliche, und damit gesamtöffentlichen Debatte über Personal und Politik bringt vielleicht nicht nur der Partei mehr Öffentlichkeit, sondern dem Verfahren allgemein. Sie könnte meines Erachtens die Wahl zum Europäischen Parlament weiter aufwerten und ist damit nur konsequent in der Weiterentwicklung des Parlaments.

The rest of europaeum's article can be read here.

Eurocité think-tank reproduces 27roses.eu article

Eurocité, le thinktank européen progressiste, has reproduced the article published by 27roses.eu on the Campaign for a PES Primary. Eurocité is a team of young researchers, senior government officials, lawyers, political and private practitioners interested in the European progressive sphere.

Eurocité writes:

A quelques jours de l'Université d'été de la Rochelle, EuroCité republie l'article de 27 roses rejoignant la campagne pour des primaires à gauche pour les prochaines élections européennes de 2014.

The entire article is available at this link.

Primärval för Europas socialdemokrater: Vinnande recept?

Ralf Grahn blogs in Swedish on his impressions of the Campaign for a PES Primary. Ralf writes:

Kampanjen för ett demokratiskt primärval är samtidigt en utmaning för de övriga europeiska partierna, eller kortare Europapartierna (och ännu kortare på engelska: Europarty). Lissabonfördraget talar om de politiska partierna på europeisk nivå, och de är avsedda att bidra till att skapa ett europeiskt politiskt medvetande och till att uttrycka unionsmedborgarnas vilja.

PES har redan samlat nya anhängare och skapat ett försprång. Partiet har chansen att agera offensivt genom att omfatta initiativet, medan de övriga Europapartierna ännu kurar i startblocken.

You can read the rest of Ralf's article on his blog.

Ralf Grahn discusses on-line campaigning

Ralf Grahn discusses the issues facing on-line campaigners on his blog. He writes,

A political online campaign for Europe has to contend with two attitude challenges: inertia and prejudice (even hatred).

The Campaign for a PES Primary is an example of an EU-wide political campaign, where party activists have to overcome both tardiness and hostility in order to gain wide enough support.

The Facebook campaign page has now gathered 921 members, and the grass root campaigners hope to reach 1,000 supporters by the end of August.

Not a bad start for a pioneering effort, but what (else) can civil society actors learn from the campaign?

Read the rest of Ralf's article at grahnlaw.blogspot.com.

Rejoignez le mouvement Européen pour une primaire PSE en 2013 - equipe 27roses.eu

equipe 27rose.eu is a team of French socialists active on European affairs within the French Socialist Party. These militants du PSE are at the forefront of using new social media technology to debate European politics and articulate the case for a new Social Europe.

In an article published today on their blog, equipe 27roses.eu argue for people to support the Campaign for a PES Primary:

L’enjeu est bien évidement de faire monter une pression démocratique pour le suffrage des militants PSE dans la désignation de leur candidat en 2013 afin de pouvoir faire de l’élection de 2014 un réel engouement aux quatre coins de l’Europe, et, surtout, impliquer plus encore les partis européens au niveau national. La reconnaissance du mouvement par le PSE.

The rest of this article can be read on the blog of 27roses.eu.

Amazing: 900 people now supporting Campaign

A further one hundred PES activists and supporters have now joined our Campaign Group on Facebook. This is an amazing level of support. Remember, we're still in August, probably one of the quietest months for European politics. We are now very strongly placed to reach over 1,000 supporters by the end of this month.

The Campaign would particularly like to commend our fellow PES activist Victor Negruscu and his colleagues in PES activists Romania, as well as colleagues in Austria and Portugal, who have run particularly strong national campaigns to attract supporters to our Facebook Group.