PES leader in robust defence of Socialist EU election rout

Socialist leader Poul Nyrup Rasmussen has called for a "more balanced EU with a strong role for public services."

Speaking in Brussels on Monday in the wake of his party's poor showing in the European elections, the Dane said this should be a "priority" for the next parliament.

Rasmussen, president of the European Party of Socialists (PES) gave his reaction to the results of the European Elections where the Socialist group had between 155 and 165 MEPs elected compared with 215 in the last parliament.

He said that while the Socialists had "suffered a loss" it remained the second largest group in parliament.

Rasmussen, who stood down as an MEP at the election, said they had lost three per cent overall "but we gained in ten member states, including the Czech Republic and Sweden."

The former Danish PM was addressing 600 European trade union leaders, who were gathered in Brussels for the 8th Congress of the European Federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU).

Rasmussen said that it has been a "solid showing" by the national socialist and social democratic parties under the PES umbrella.

He added, “We intend to intensify our calls for a strong programme of social justice in the EU, based on a concrete set of EU proposals that will improve the lives of working Europeans in these difficult economic times”.

He said there was a need for a legislative programme for public services that "promoted their essential role in society."

EPSU vice president Dave Prentice, of the UK union, Unison, praised the PES for their contribution towards a "strong social Europe, and the commitment to intensify such efforts."

Turning to other EU institutions he said that "European citizens have an instinctive awareness that the commission has become more and more like a run-away train - out of control due to its over-stoked market-driven engine”.

Prentice called on the PES and the new parliament in general to "hold the commission to account" on the need for strong social legislation.

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