On 14 and 15 October, S&D Group President Iratxe García Pérez will join EU leaders Olaf Scholz, Pedro Sánchez, Magdalena Andersson, António Costa, Sanna Marin, and Robert Abela at the 2022 congress of the Party of European Socialists (PES) in Berlin. European Commissioners, like Executive Vice President Frans Timmermans, will also join activists and delegates to debate the challenges facing Europe and Europeans.

Iratxe García will lead the delegation of 42 S&D MEPs to the 2022 PES Congress that is being held in cooperation with Germany’s Social Democratic Party. The PES will announce the election of its next president on Friday, 14 October.

On the fringes of the congress, the S&D Group is organising an event on “Europe at a crossroads - make or break?” on Saturday, 15 October, on the Solarwaterworld Boat at 2:30pm. Participants interested in joining the debate in person can find out more information here.

S&D Group leader Iratxe García Pérez,  who is also PES vice-president, said:

“The social democratic family has a very important meeting in Berlin. At a very crucial time for Europe, we have constructive proposals to address the most pressing challenges, such as taming growing inflation, ensuring affordable and secure energy supplies, and keeping our EU unity and solidarity to stand by Ukraine against Russia’s illegal war.

“I will be meeting Chancellor Olaf Scholz to discuss the best way forward. It was our political family who put forward the recovery plan to overcome the Covid-19 pandemic and we will do the same now to make sure we bring the bills down for households and enterprises to face this war-related crisis. If we do not provide solutions for people, extreme-right populism will find a fertile ground for their destructive propaganda.

“At the congress of the Party of the European Socialists (PES) we will not only renew the leadership of the party. We will also adopt a political declaration and start preparing for the next European elections in 2024.”