In its election Congress in Madrid, the European social Democrats the courage to make the European elections end of may want to. That seems to be sorely needed: The polls are anything other than good.
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Test yourself! You call a social democratic head of government in the European Union. Hmmh? Yeah, so… you’re not the Only one to think a bit longer. Right: Portugal, Malta, Sweden, Slovakia, and Romania are governed in the EU by the social Democrats. But in the case of large EU countries such as France, Italy, Poland and Germany display reigns to fail. In Spain, the failed Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez had to start straight elections. It is unclear whether he can defend his mandate.
The European social Democrats had chosen this Friday extra the Spanish capital of Madrid as the venue for its party Congress for the European elections at the end of may. In many countries, of shrinking poll numbers threatened “socialists” wanted to bask a little in the brilliance of Sanchez. That’s what went wrong. Like so much in the case of the social Democrats in the past few years.
In Germany, for example, party researchers, such as Franz Walter in an Interview with the weekly newspaper “die Zeit”, for almost ten years in advance, that the local SPD “will never again be a people’s party”. The old clientele of Voters of the workers is weggeschrumpft. Those who feel socially disadvantaged, afterwards prefer to run the populists of the right or the left, many political scientists. This is true for large parts of Western Europe.
Where are they now?
In France, Italy and Germany, the traditional social-democratic parties have fallen in the polls to a record low. The result is that the socialist group will shrink in the European Parliament after the elections in may, is expected to arg. In 2014, the “socialists collared” 191 seats. This year it will be according to a forecast by the opinion research platform “Poll of Polls”, only 136. The British Labour Party falls out because of the departure of Britain from the EU power: minus 20 seats. The German social Democrats, the Bob up and down at 15 to 18 per cent in the polls, are likely to send 11 deputies less to Strasbourg.
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Nevertheless, the socialist group is led by the German SPD politician Udo Bullmann, probably the second strongest force in the European Parliament. The liberal and Euro-sceptic populist will rise most strongly, are not able to surpass the “old Auntie social-democracy”. The strongest force the Conservatives to remain, even though the group of 221 (will shrink in 2014) on 177, to say the surveys from 27 member States of the EU.
The top candidate of European socialists for the European elections, Frans Timmermans from the Netherlands, it’s easy. Its natural house, the once mitregierende social democracy in the Netherlands, is broken away. The Dutch socialists probably only three deputies. Timmermans, previously a European Commissioner in Brussels and formerly his country’s foreign Minister, hopes to be one of them.
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Within the social democratic party families, there are also tensions that you are trying to transfer at the Congress in Madrid. The social Democrats in Slovakia or Romania, are set in the eyes of many party officials from the old EU member States, there is no real “socialists”, but the part of conservative and national than the CDU or CSU in Germany. Particularly bizarre is the situation currently in Romania.
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Frans Timmermans has accused Romania’s ruling social Democrats, they would only insufficiently against corruption and the rule of law threaten the rule of law in their country. In return, the social Democrats are reimbursed by a related company in Bucharest, a complaint against Commissioner Timmermans. Whether the public Prosecutor’s office investigation for “Organised crime” and “forgery of EU Reports to Romania” is, is unclear.
In Romania, rumors that the self-splendid party plans-in-chief of the social Democrats, Liviu Dragnea, the European party family and of the common group in the European Parliament to get out. That would be another blow in the middle of the election campaign, after all, the Romanian social Democrats to bring eleven seats in the group.”The Romanian PSD is not a social democratic party”