“Every European Political Group should sign up to our principles” says Rasmussen

The Presidency of the Party of European Socialists (PES) has adopted a strong set of guidelines on how to deal with the rise of the extreme right in Europe.

The meeting, chaired by PES President Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, adopted the document entitled “Confronting the extreme-right in Europe: our way”

Speaking after the meeting, Mr. Rasmussen said that; “Regarding this threat, two responses are essential;  all European parties should sign up to our plan to refuse to work with the extreme-right and all European Parties should reject the ‘politics of fear’”. The PES President added that; “We in the social democratic family must show that there is another inclusive Europe that we can build”.

Commenting on recent events in the Netherlands, he added that; “Unfortunately we have seen some mixed signals in recent months. We hope that this PES ‘code of conduct’ will act as a spur for other European parties to act in a principled way”.

Key decisions in declaration:

The PES, in order to confront the rise of the extreme-right by isolating those parties from the

political scene, urges all European political parties to sign up to the principles of the Charter of European Parties for a non-racist Society, adopted in Utrecht in 1998, and to adopt the following code of conduct:

·         Condemn all racist, xenophobic, discriminatory or nationalistic statements or actions.

·         Not get into a ruling coalition or electoral alliance with a Party inciting or attempting to stir up racial or ethnic prejudices and racial hatred, at European or national levels.

·          Refuse an implicit support from a Party inciting or attempting to stir up racial or ethnic prejudices and racial hatred to form a government.

·         Fight the legitimization of the discourses of such Parties by refusing to engage into their terms of the debate, by not taking up their ideas into its political platforms nor in the policies it implements when in government.

·         Isolate its members not respecting those principles.

Please read the full statement here.

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