Last week, I attended the PES Social Europe Network – a group of prominent PES policy-makers chaired by my colleague and good friend Alejandro Cercas – for a discussion of what I think is one of the most serious and yet most sidelined issues of

After a fruitful meeting with the Americans for Financial Reform, I briefly met Richard Trumka, the newly elected President of AFL CIO - the largest federation of trade unions in North America - and delivered a speech at a meeting with the ITUC.

President Barack Obama is still strong and very convincing when he talks. He is sending a clear message as when I saw him during his inauguration in Washington. Yesterday, during Bill Clinton’s global initiative conference, his message was again

José Manuel Barroso sent European Parliament political groups his five year programme last week in his bid to be re-elected Commission President for a second term. This is in the run-up to tomorrow’s hearings in the Parliament where he will try

We had a disappointing result in the European elections – but we’re not giving up, with unemployment shooting up we have plenty to fight for. We now face the least progressive European Parliament in its history, with a far more eurosceptic and

We said it before the election, and after the election we are saying exactly the same: the PES cannot support a reelection of Barroso. Now more than ever, Europe needs a fundamental change of direction and real crisis management. After the

While we await the final results of the European elections, it is obvious our socialist and social democratic family had a disappointing result. We face a more conservative European Parliament, with a right that is more euro-sceptic and more

The European elections have now started in the UK and the Netherlands and by Sunday evening will be completed in all 27 EU member countries. The elections are a vote on the policy, direction and leadership of the European Union. It is the Parliament

By Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, President of the Party of European Socialists You choose – but please don’t throw your vote away!Like it or not, Europe is a part of your government, and Brussels is one of the seats of your democracy. There’s the Town

Frankfurt is a city of contrasts. The shining towers that dominate the skyline house a major financial centre, an industry which needs to undergo major reforms if we are to avoid future financial crises. Over recent years, a handful of bankers and