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The Europe We Want written in red with the subtitle “Social, Democratic, Sustainable” on the facade of the Nuvola, the congress center in the Eur district of Rome, hosts the congress of the PSE (Party of European Socialists). The European left has set two objectives for this day: to choose the socialist candidate and to approve the programmatic manifesto that will guide their political action.
Regarding the first objective, Nicolas Schmit, the current EU Commissioner for Jobs, will be the Spitzenkandidat, the leading candidate of the Party of European Socialists (PSE), challenging Ursula von der Leyen, who represents the EPP, for the position of President of the European Commission. “I hope that we can work with the ECR and with the Liberals. Dialogue with the Conservatives is important; Socialists cannot think of deciding what needs to be done in Europe, not being the leading party,” said Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani during the last EPP congress, hoping to recreate in Europe what exists in Italy: a center-right capable of speaking to everyone and especially capable of making differences the real strength.
The potential external support of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR), a party which includes Fratelli d’Italia and of which Italian Prime Minister Meloni is president, for the reconfirmation of Von der Leyen doesn’t intimidate Schmit. “We are both in the race,” is his comment at the end of the congress. He explains to the EPP, “The PSE has no intention of allying with any kind of right-wing, neither with Meloni, Orban, and Zemmour (ECR), nor even less with Identity and Democracy (ID) of Salvini, Le Pen, and Afd”.
An event in which the Democratic Party played the role of host and welcomed leaders from all over Europe such as Pedro Sanchez, Spanish Prime Minister, Olaf Scholz, German Chancellor, Antonio Costa, Portuguese Prime Minister, Mette Frederiksen, Danish Prime Minister, and Marcel Ciolacu, Romanian President. It was supposed to be a great opportunity to launch the socialist challenge ahead of the European elections in June. However, more than one in the Democratic Party must deeply reflect on how things really went. The Nuvola was empty. Images of the auditorium with many empty seats during the concluding speeches of Schmit and Elly Schlein, Secretary of the Democratic Party, will make European socialists wonder.
The most repeated words by those who took turns on stage, after “dear comrades”, were “far-right”. The first to speak was Stefan Löfven, President of the PSE, who stated: “The alternatives are clear: it will be a Europe held hostage by the far-right or a progressive Europe led by social democracy. This is not a false alarm”. He was followed by Sanchez, who believes that “the soul of Europe is in danger”. Scholz echoes the sentiment: “The far-right is growing in all our countries; what the right-wing parties have in mind is a nationalist Europe”. “The far-right proposes nothing,” Schmit adds. “Nationalisms are never the solution; they have always led to wars and conflicts, as we see with the Russian aggression in Ukraine.” Schlein concludes, “It is essential for our community to know that we are not alone in the fight against the far-right.”
At the expense, in terms of time, of the new political manifesto. Despite insiders joking about how long it took to create one in a unified manner capable of not upsetting all sensitivities, they were given less than 10 minutes in which 27 under-30s, as many as the EU member states, each read one sentence. There are twenty points that make it up, analyzing the labor market, the ecological transition, peace in Ukraine and the Middle East, and the desire to build “a feminist Europe” more capable of cooperating with the Global South.
The message is clear: very few ideas, divided almost on everything, with the sole objective of talking about extremism. A story already seen that has tired European citizens who have understood very well how things really are.
The congress concluded with the notes of Bella Ciao, with more than one person, in addition to singing and hugging their neighbor, also raising a clenched fist to the sky. They are the true nostalgics.