PES President Sergei Stanishev said, “Today marks the move from process to policy. From now until 2019, the PES will press unrelentingly to ensure that Juncker’s Commission pursues a more progressive path”. Stanishev emphasised that; “Mr Juncker has made important promises on an investment plan, social protection for European workers, a progressive investment strategy, and an expansion of the Youth Guarantee. We will hold him to these commitments and ensure that his Commission does not pursue a ‘business as usual’ approach.”
Speaking on the ‘spitzenkandidat’ process, Mr. Stanishev added; “Today was, however, a good day for representative democracy in the EU . We have made history today. European elections will never be the same after this vote. The people of Europe now have a direct say in who leads the EU and which political programme that person will adopt. The PES will show over the coming years why the EU needs a radically more progressive approach.”
“The Party of European Socialists was the first party to present a common candidate for the 2014 European elections, and ran a continent-wide campaign which mobilised millions of supporters behind our common candidate Martin Schulz. The superior reach of the Socialist campaign online and in the media is a good sign for the 2019 campaign, when we hope to build on our extensive grassroots support”, stated the PES President.
