PES President calls it a ‘massive vindication’ of our progressive economic strategy

Press release Party of European Socialists (PES)

08 March 2011, Brussels

Today, Ani Podimata MEP and the Socialists and Democrats (S&D) group in the European Parliament achieved a big victory on the economic direction that the European Union should take. Despite last minute attempts by the European Peoples Party (EPP) to remove key proposals on FTT and Eurobonds, the Socialist group stood firm and won the vote.

Ani Podimata’s report on “innovative financing at global and EU level” calls for the introduction of a European tax on financial transactions (FTT), a fair tax on the financial sector that would raise €200bn a year, leave ordinary citizens unharmed and impose a fair burden-sharing of the cost of the financial crisis on those who caused it in the first place. The report also makes significant progresses on the issue of Eurobonds, which are instruments that could translate the concept of European solidarity into hard policy, and provide a lasting answer to the euro zone crisis.

PES President, Poul Nyrup Rasmussen called the vote; “a massive vindication of our progressive economic strategy”. He added that; “This vote gives further momentum to the economic direction the Socialist leaders decided in Athens last weekend. Our Member Parties have already made a commitment to push for Eurobonds and campaign for a European Financial Transaction Tax. Today’s vote represents a clear rejection of the Conservative ‘Austerity only’ approach to economic governance. Today, the credibility of our economic alternative should be clear to all”.

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For further information please contact Brian Synnott on +32 474 98 96 75 (brian.synnott@pes.org)

The PES brings together 33 socialist, social democratic, labour and progressive parties in the European Union and Norway, a parliamentary group in the European Parliament (184 MEPs) and in the Committee of the Regions (247 members) - plus observer and associate parties and organizations from all over Europe. ECOSY and PES Women are respectively the Youth and the Women's organizations of the PES.