Madrid - European socialists and social democrats Monday approved a joint programme for the 2009 European elections, urging voters to choose between a "progressive" European Union and one serving market forces. About 230 delegates from 33 member parties of the Party of European Socialists (PES) approved a manifesto titled "People first, a new direction for Europe" in the Spanish capital Madrid.
German Foreign Minister and Social Democratic chancellor candidate Frank-Walter Steinmeier described the document as the first common programme of European socialists and social democrats in European elections.
The programme features more than 60 proposals including a strategy for green growth creating 10 million jobs, new financial market regulation also covering hedge funds and private equity, and a pact for decent minimum wages in EU member states.
The manifesto gave voters a "clear choice between a progressive European Union" and a conservative one "which places our future in the hands of the market," PES president Poul Nyrup Rasmussen said.
Leaders attending the congress described the ongoing economic crisis as spelling the failure of conservative party strategies.
"Communism died 20 years ago, and neoliberalism died two months ago," French Socialist leader Martine Aubry said.
Portugal's Socialist Prime Minister Jose Socrates urged states to act "urgently" against the crisis, saying social democracy had "the best responses" in the present situation.
Martin Schulz, head of the Social Democratic group in the European Parliament, described "the message of George Bush," the outgoing US president, as having failed politically as well as economically.
Steinmeier said the presence of a US Democratic Party delegation at the meeting was a "clear sign" of president-elect Barack Obama's party wanting to cooperate with European socialists, with whom the Democrats were "spiritually related."
Schulz said he did not exclude the idea of US Democrats joining the Socialist International, the worldwide organization of social democratic, socialist and labour parties.
