everyday social democracy

Segolene wants our campaign to be participative, to be inclusive but also exciting and full of joy. Our campaign is now even in the clubs and discotheques, and everyone's joining in across Europe, from the PES to launch a "new social Europe" with Delors, Rasmussen and Royal. Jacques Delors and Simone Veil who Bayrou claimed both as his key supporters, who both not only rejected this claim but stated he was a danger to French politics, as his anti-politics encouraged the extremists - indeed, the FN have increased in the polls in the shadow of Bayrou's mediatic rise. While Veil, so courageous in legalising abortion has rallied Sarkozy in spite of his flirtations with the extreme right, Delors champions Segolene Royal's values; participative democracy, social justice and a citizens' Europe. As the PES report says, we deserve a new social Europe. We have a responsibility to drive these reforms together simultaneously and we can see how the French PS has been inspired by Labour and overtaken it in the domain of childcare, a case study of how European social democracy works at its best.



Let's talk about Europe and the elections. The UMP was united for the European Constitution, no internal debate, just the usual 99% plebiscite, no wonder they call Sarkozy Napoleon 4. Admittedly, the PS was divided for the Constitution, we had an internal debate and now we've learnt our lessons. What united us wasn't around the Constitution, we recognised that in a new social Europe, our strategy needs to foster active involvement and ownership by the citizens of what Europe should like - that would be genuinely "new". Our values need to be mobilised to ensure the free market apolitising virus epitomised by Sarkozy and Bayrou doesn't compromise the social gains achieved through the EU, but enables us to drive radical reforms - that would be genuinely "social".

Sarkozy, never scared of mobilising fears and populist outrage, for some reason fears himself that the French population may have some greats ideas about how to reform the EU to drive a better society.

The New Social Europe represents:
1. A green Europe with more and better jobs;
2. An inclusive Europe;
3. A learning Europe;
4. An innovative Europe;
5. A cohesive Europe.

This is our Europe - people's Europe. It is not a dream - it is the political choice of Europe’s
socialist and social democratic family. European countries will together be stronger if they
act together to improve living and working standards - to ensure decent work and decent
lives for all people throughout the European Union.

Looking at the report's description on the different social models, it seems that Segolene Royal has mixed up the melting pot of ideas scaled up through Desirs d'Avenir and the participative campaign and coated them with a policy mix of the Nordic and Mediterranean social models, adapted to the French context. A while ago, we discussed the Spanish model as an inspiration for the French PS after the Segolene attended the PSOE conference to speak on how participative democracy could be the clue to enable citizens to have as much voice as choice around local services. She had just started out as regional leader of Poitou Charentes, someone pronounced her the French "Zapatera" and the rest is history.

Indeed, many of the ideas she put forward were inspired by her action in the region she led:
– launchpad-jobs for young people
- innovation funds for SMEs
- contract to companies who benefit from public funding to reimburse these funds if they outsource outside Europe or downsize for non-economical reasons
– a professional social security
- generalised use of micro-finance to reduce the debt
- participative budgeting of schools
- doubling of the environmental and cultural budget