The French European Minister and Chair of the PES GAC Ministers’ Network, Harlem Désir, commented after the meeting:
‘Supporting growth, jobs and high social standards is our overarching goal. The measures and policies we promote aim at fulfilling that goal. Europe is a strong trading partner but we want our trade deals to respect the existing European standards. Other countries envy our social model and we shall keep this way. Globalization is both an opportunity and a challenge, we shall make sure that European interests always prevail.’
He added: ‘Migration remains a big challenge for Europe. Measures have been put in place for addressing it, especially the launch of the European Border and Coast Guard, but more can be done, notably to conclude migration compacts with some African countries before the end of the year. Europe has to take a big step towards implementing measures of shared responsibility, measures that promote solidarity. We shall not only seek this approach internally in Europe, but also internationally with third countries.’
The meeting was also attended by:
Tomas Prouza – State Secretary for European Affairs, Czech Republic
Michael Roth – Minister of State for Europe, Germany
Nikos Xydakis (observer) – Alternate Foreign Affairs Minister for European Affairs, Greece
Theodoros Papatheodorou (observer) – Member of Parliament Greece, Greece
Ivan Korcok – State Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, Slovakia
Maria Joao Rodrigues – Vice President of the S&D Group European Parliament
Yonnec Polet – Deputy Secretary General PES
