That line does not appear in the new draft, although there is a fresh reference to the need to “fight the far right” on the first page of the 10-page document.
Socialist parties and leaders from across Europe will gather on Friday and Saturday in Rome to endorse EU Jobs Commissioner Nicolas Schmit as the face of their election campaign, and officially support the manifesto. Schmit will face incumbent Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who will be endorsed as lead EPP candidate next week.
The Socialist’s manifesto is light on new policy proposals but doubles down on core social democratic tenets, such as battling the cost of living crisis, securing better protections for workers and making the climate transition fairer for citizens. The manifesto’s lack of ambitious ideas is perhaps a tacit acknowledgment that those socialist fundamentals are under threat, as the center of political gravity in Europe shifts to the right. Polls predict a far-right surge in the next European Parliament.
The Socialists are set to lose seats, according to POLITICO’s Poll of Polls, but will remain the second-largest faction in Parliament, behind the EPP. That means it’s likely the Socialists will have to find a way to work with the EPP, and possibly the liberals too.
During the campaign, the PES is expected to accuse the conservatives of enabling the normalization of far-right parties, for example in Italy, and will seek to exploit the policy gulf between the EPP’s leader in Parliament, Manfred Weber, and von der Leyen, who staked her legacy on many of the proposals Weber is now seeking to undo.
On foreign policy, the document makes no reference to a cease-fire in Gaza, bar a vague reference to “work to end conflict … in the Middle East” and committing to a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine.
