The meeting of the PES High-Level Working Group on the Future of Europe was chaired by PES president Sergei Stanishev and attended by Commissioners Corina Crețu, Pierre Moscovici and Maroš Šefčovič, as well as Ministers Nicolas Schmit from Luxembourg, Victor Negrescu from Romania, and Aaron Farrugia from Malta and many other distinguished speakers.
PES president Sergei Stanishev said:
“We have had enough signals that people feel abandoned by the EU. They can’t see and feel the benefits from the Union and obviously they don’t gain enough from them. The EU needs relaunching, and Socialists and Democrats have to take that responsibility. Surrendering leadership to conservatives or populists is not an option.”
“For too long, the EU has been in the eyes of citizens about cuts and austerity, and is now paying the price. What Europeans need is a Union that will defend and promote social rights, and the creation of quality jobs. The European Union must have at its core the betterment of the lives of its citizens, the creation of real opportunities for its youth, the target of shared prosperity for all. These are not luxuries that can be done without, but the very conditions of the continuation of the European project.”
The High-Level Working Group on the Future of Europe was launched by the PES in 2016 to discuss the progressive revival of the European Union.
