PES activists support the strengthening of European democracy
The date and venue of the PES activists Forum 09 in Dublin were not chosen randomly: on the 2nd October Irish citizens will vote for a second time to decide on the Lisbon Treaty. By coming to Ireland PES activists showed their commitment to a true European democracy.
The Lisbon referendum in Ireland will define whether the EU will work based on the weak Nice Treaty or the new Lisbon Treaty, which will strengthen the EU and equip it with the powers and instruments it needs to face-up to the challenges of the coming decades. The new treaty will make the EU more democratic and more effective. The EU will obtain new competencies which will allow action on energy policy, environmental protection and internal security. The EU High Representative for Foreign Policy will be reinforced and it will have its own diplomatic service – the EU External Action Service, making the EU’s common external policy stronger and more coherent.
PES president Poul Nyrup Rasmussen and Labour Party leader Eamon Gilmore canvassing on Grafton Street, Dublin
Major institutional reforms will be introduced; the powers of the European Parliament will be increased, decisions by the Council of Ministers will be taken more quickly and will no longer be restricted to a minimum consensus and a new permanent post: the President of the European Council, will be created. The European Charter of Fundamental Rights, the most comprehensive and modern charter of rights and liberties in the world, is embedded in the new European Treaty and will become legally binding once it is ratified. For the first time, in a charter of fundamental rights people’s social and economic rights will stand on equal terms to civil rights and liberties.
The Lisbon Treaty also strengthens the EU from a social dimension. Social issues will be on a par with economic goals. Full employment, the fight against poverty and exclusion, equality between men and women as well as tackling discrimination will become aims of the European Union. With the new treaty the European Union defines itself as a social market economy for the first time. Horizontal clauses will be introduced committing all EU institutions to:
• promote a high level of employment
• guarantee adequate social protection
• fight against social exclusion
• provide a high level of education and training
• protect human health
• combat discrimination based on sex, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation
• promote sustainable development when defining and implementing EU policies.
Furthermore, due to some criticism raised during the first Irish referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, some clarifications were made to it by the European Council in June 2009. The Heads of State and Government representatives stated that they will take a decision guaranteeing to every EU country one member of the European Commission, once the new treaty enters into force. The threat of loosing a Commissioner was widely used in Ireland as an argument against the Lisbon Treaty. They also agreed that other concerns of the Irish people, relating to taxation policy, the right to life, education and the family, Ireland's traditional policy of military neutrality and a number of social issues, including workers' rights, would be addressed by additional legal guarantees.
The Irish Labour Party is actively involved in the referendum campaign in order to ensure a positive outcome of the vote, see http://www.labourforeurope.ie/.
Street action in Paris to say "Yes to Europe"