European Tribune discusses PES Primaries

Luis de Sousa, writing in European Tribune, has this to say about the Campaign for a PES Primary:

"For the first time in my life I'm considering registering with a political party. Why? Because of an initiative that has the potential to completely change the way politics is made in Europe. Two PES activists are proposing a US-style primary system to find the PES candidate for Commission President, where registered party members elect directly their preferred leader. If it ever comes to be like this, both politics and elections in Europe will never be the same, Eurocrats will come closer to Eurocitizens and we'll stop having nomination-surprises like Van Rompuy or Barroso.

The beauty of it all, the sheer elegance, is that all this can be achieved without new treaties, new framework laws or endless Council negotiations, it's all coming from the Citizens themselves. This is how Europe must be built."

His article has sparked a lengthy disuscsion amongst EuroTrib users about the campaign and what it might mean for the development of democracy in the European Union. You can follow the debate here.

Campaign now mentioned on Wikipedia!

It is only a small entry, which I am sure will grow as this campaign begins to deliver, but the Wikipedia entry on Elections in the European Union, has this to say on the Campaign for a PES Primary:

"The Socialists, disappointed at the 2009 election, agreed to put forward a candidate for Commission President at all subsequent elections. There is a campaign within that party to have open primaries for said candidate."

Other media republishing articles on our campaign

A number of other news organisations have begun republishing news articles first carried in euobserver.com and EurActiv.com (including the erroneous reporting by EurActiv of independent Ralf Grahn's political affiliation). Here are some of the more prominent articles:

republishing EurActiv article

republishing euobserver article

republishing euobserver article

republishing euobserver article

Après le PS Français, les primaires en Europe?

David Chopin (27roses.eu and PS Paris) has drawn our attention to a French language news and review site that is commenting on the Campaign for a PES Primary. David describes the article as, "Quel article passionnant ! quel auteur avisé ! très bon article de l'excellent Non Fiction..." The news site is called nonfiction.fr, and describes itself as:

NONFICTION.FR, LE QUOTIDIEN DES LIVRES ET DES IDEES est un site d'actualité des idées et de critiques des livres animé par un collectif de chercheurs, de journalistes et de créateurs de sites Internet. Il vise à renouer avec un journalisme intellectuel de qualité, à donner la parole à une nouvelle génération de chercheurs, à contribuer à la modernisation des idées politiques progressistes, à défendre et valoriser les livres de sciences sociales et à ouvrir le monde des idées de notre pays à l'international.

In an article titled Après le PS Français, les primaires en Europe?, the author comments:

Si l’Europe est bonne ou mauvaise, c’est désormais de son fait par le biais des élections, depuis le traité de Lisbonne : on ne le dira jamais assez, dans les textes, le parti européen gagnant dispose du choix pour la présidence de la Commission. Cette innovation avait pour but de développer l’intérêt pour la vie politique européenne, pour l’instant, admettons que nous en sommes encore aux balbutiements.

The article ends:

L’humain est ce qu’il est, rassuré dans ce qu’il connaît déjà, menacé par toute innovation. Même limitée, et même si cette initiative rate son objectif premier, force est de constater que l’effervescence des contributions et des liens entre européens, créés par ce mouvement, est déjà un succès en soi. Il importe donc de soutenir et d’observer de très près ce mouvement pour comprendre et connaître l’Europe politique de demain...

It is a fascinating examination of the background to primary politics in Europe and I would recommend reading the entire article at this link.

1.000 supporters on Facebook ... WOW!

Thanks to all of your efforts we have now attracted 1,000 supporters to our Facebook page. This is truly extraordinary. It is less than six weeks since José and I launched the Campaign for a PES Primary and in this short time we have attracted massive support from PES activists and supporters across our political family. We have also attracted considerable support and positive comment from citizens outside of the PES. This is strong evidence for our claim that democratically selecting the PES candidate for Commssion President has the capacity to energise our party and attract huge support from the citizens we seek to represent in the European Parliament.

Later today we will be launching an on-line discussion forum that we hope will provide a platform for PES activists and independent progressive citizens to develop and refine our ideas for PES Primaries. Watch out for our announcement this afternoon!

Image "borrowed" from Confederation of Christian Trade Unions in Belguim (http://wp.me/pxa3n-iA).

"New Europe" opinion piece on Campaign.

BREAKING NEWS: "New Europe", a leading European news organisation, carries an opinion piece today on the Campaign for a PES Primary. This is more evidence that the Campaign is attacting comment and support from outside our political family and has the potential to translate that positive interest into a wave of support at the European elections in 2014.

I was asked by "New Europe" to write an opinion piece for this month's issue. I wanted to concentrate on why we were running this campaign and the difference that I belive it will make to our European party.

The article, headlined "PES primaries and the European Commission President", opens:

I was in Brussels on the evening last June 2009 when the results of the parliamentary elections started coming in from around Europe. To say they were a disappointment to members of the Party of European Socialists (PES) is an understatement. There were many reasons for this defeat. One of these reasons was that while the PES offered an intelligent, radical and compelling manifesto, we failed to agree a candidate for Commission President who would embody and articulate that manifesto. Our failure to agree a single candidate confirmed people’s suspicions that closed-door deal-making in the European Union remained the norm.

The remainder of the article can be read here.

Desmond O'Toole writes guest article on jasonomahoney.ie

A short while back I was invited by Jason O'Mahoney, a commentator on Irish and European politics, to contribute a guest article to his blog jasonomahoney.ie. The article, "Why should European democracy matter?" puts the Campaign for a PES Primary in a joint Irish and European context and emphasises the common failure of Conservative and Liberal politicians at both national and European level to adequately respond to the current economic and social crisis.

The following gives some flavour of my views:

The Irish government is utterly overwhelmed by and patently unfit to address the profound crises that Ireland is suffering, but what of the EU’s response? With its eurozone structures, capacity to co-ordinate and lead government action and substantial budgets for regional and structural funding the EU possesses significant resources to bring us through these difficult times. But the European Commission has demonstrated extraordinary lassitude in mobilising a continent-wide effort to create jobs, protect standards of living and promote strategies for economic recovery and growth. Led by José Manuel Barroso, the Commission has shown itself unequal to the task.

You can read the remainder of the article at this link.