Europe must become more independent, more resilient and a stronger foreign policy actor. This was the message sent from Warsaw, Poland, today by Europe’s socialists and democrats.
PES President Stefan Löfven joined SPD Germany co-leader Lars Klingbeil, SAP Sweden President Magdalena Andersson, Democratic Coalition Hungary MEP Klára Dobrev, Vice President of LSDP Lithuania Dovilė Šakalienė, Vice President of Nowa Lewica Poland Andrzej Szejna and other high-level social democrats for the ‘Zeitenwende Conference’ organised by Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES).
Under the heading “Towards a Common Social Democratic Security Policy in Europe”, Europe’s progressive family reaffirmed its support for Ukraine, which remains under brutal attack from Russia. Drawing inspiration from the Zeitenwende (‘historic turning point’) speech by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz one year ago, socialists and democrats are continuing to push for a more sovereign EU.
PES President Stefan Löfven
“We are by Ukraine’s side and we are committed to supporting them, now and in the long run.
“To shape a new security order in Europe, the most important element is EU unity, not conflict based on narrow nationalistic strategies. For a long time we have heard far-right parties, here in Poland and elsewhere, say that the EU is weak and indecisive. We have proven them wrong over the last year. Europe is strongest when it is united.
“There is no going back. Russia must not win this war. The people responsible must be brought to justice. Europe needs a new security order and we are committed to building it.”
This morning, PES President Stefan Löfven, PES Secretary General Achim Post and PES Executive Secretary General Giacomo Filibeck joined other social democrats in laying flowers at the Monument to the Ghetto Heroes in Warsaw. The memorial commemorates the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, an act of Jewish resistance in German-occupied Poland in 1943. In 1970, Chancellor of West Germany Willy Brandt – who had actively resisted the Nazi regime – famously knelt in front of the monument in an act of remembrance of the victims of Nazism.
In the afternoon, progressives held a roundtable discussion focused on common EU security architecture, energy security, defending democracy and a united response to Russian aggression.
