The theme of the conference was “Inequality – Consequences for society, politics and people.”
In his speech, Schulz denounced the chronic gap of income between the richest and the poorest citizens in Europe “Inequality has many faces. It’s the woman who earns less than her male colleague doing the same job. Or the child who has fewer life chances because of his parent’s low income. It’s the young man who has studied, worked hard “done everything right” – and still can’t find a job.”
Schulz went on to set out his programme for the PES election campaign, identifying the areas where he would seek to take action as President of the European Commission.
“Progressive and fair taxation is a forceful tool to fight inequality. Sharing wealth guarantees equal opportunities. Shifting fiscal burden from labour to capital boosts a fair economy,” PES Common candidate continued, underlining the importance of shielding people from austerity and further pain instead of rewarding the reckless and giving billions to banks.
Schulz reminded that having progressive majority in the European institutions is the only way to deliver equality between citizens and regions, to deliver change in Europe.
Read the full speech here.