Mr Stanishev stated: “I am convinced that the Nordic Model has a bright future. But I am equally convinced that the conditions that can guarantee that bright future are – have to be – European”. Talking about the economic crisis, the need to promote fair corporate tax systems and more and better jobs, the PES President added that; “Europe and the Nordic Model can and must go hand in hand. It is only by sticking together, and learning from the best examples we have to offer that we can overcome this crisis. The most important thing is that we, the labour movement of the Nordic region and the rest of Europe, keep on working together to make Europe more social and more democratic”.
The SAMAK-FEPS report, titled “Erosion or renewal in the Nordic countries 2014–2030?”, was presented at the Congress. Other participants of the event were Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt, Prime Minister of Sweden Stefan Löfven and leader of the Social Democratic Party of Finland and current Minister of Finance Antti Rinne.
SAMAK (Joint Committee of the Nordic Social Democratic Labour Movement) is a forum for cooperation between social democrats and trade unions in the Nordic countries. It assembles the social democratic parties of Denmark, Iceland, Faroe Islands, Finland, Greenland, Sweden, The Åland Islands and Norway. The first Nordic Workers congress was in Gothenburg Sweden in the year 1886.