Party of European Socialists
President	Sergei Stanishev (BG)
	Achim Post (DE)
Founded	1973 (Confederation) 9-10 November 1992 (Party)
Headquarters	Rue Guimard 10, 1040 Brussels, Belgium
Think tank	Foundation for European Progressive Studies
Youth wing	Young European Socialists
Women's wing	PES Women
Ideology	Social democracy[1][2] Pro-Europeanism
Political position	Centre-left[2][3]
International affiliation
European Parliament group	Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats
Colours	Red
European Parliament
European Council
European Commission
European Lower Houses
European Upper Houses
Website
pes.eu
Politics of European Union Political parties Elections

The Party of European Socialists (PES) is a social-democratic European political party.^[6]

The PES comprises national-level political parties from all member states of the European Union (EU) plus Norway and the United Kingdom. This includes major parties such as the Social Democratic Party of Germany, the French Socialist Party, the British Labour Party, the Italian Democratic Party and the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party. Parties from a number of other European countries and from the Mediterranean region are also admitted to the PES as associate or observer parties.^[7] Most member, associate and observer parties are members of the wider Progressive Alliance or Socialist International.^[4][5]

The PES is currently led by its president Sergei Stanishev, a former Prime Minister of Bulgaria. Its political group in the European Parliament is the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D). The PES also operates in the European Committee of the Regions (in the PES Group in the Committee of the Regions) and the European Council.

Name

The party's English name is "Party of European Socialists". In addition, the following names are used in other languages:

In March 2014 following the congress in Rome, the PES added the tagline "Socialists and Democrats" to its name following the admission of Italy's Democratic Party into the organisation.^[8]

History

1960s

In 1961, the Socialists in the European Parliament attempted to produce a common 'European Socialist Programme' but this was neglected due to the applications of Britain, Denmark, Ireland and Norway to join the European Community. The Socialists' 1962 congress pushed for greater democratisation and powers for Parliament, though it was only in 1969 that this possibility was examined by the member states.^[9]

1970s

In 1973, Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom joined the European Community, bringing in new parties from these countries. The enlarged Socialist Congress met in Bonn and inaugurated the Confederation of the Socialist Parties of the European Community. The Congress also passed a resolution on social policy, including the right to decent work, social security, democracy and equality in the European economy.^[10] In 1978, the Confederation of Socialist Parties approved the first common European election Manifesto. It focused on several goals among which the most important were to ensure a right to decent work, fight pollution, end discrimination, protect the consumer and promote peace, human rights and civil liberties.

1980s

At its Luxembourg Congress in 1980, the Confederation of Socialist Parties approved its first Statute. The accession of Greece to the EU in 1981, followed by Spain and Portugal in 1986, brought in more parties.

In 1984, a common Socialist election manifesto proposed a socialist remedy for the economic crisis of the time by establishing a link between industrial production, protection of fundamental social benefits, and the fight for an improved quality of life.^[10]

1990s

In 1992, with the European Community becoming the European Union and with the Treaty of Maastricht establishing the framework for political parties at a European level, the Confederation of Socialist Parties voted to transform itself into the Party of European Socialists. The party's first programme concentrated on job creation, democracy, gender equality, environmental and consumer protection, peace and security, regulation of immigration, discouragement of racism and fighting organised crime.^[10]

Along with the Socialist Group in the European Parliament, the founding members of the PES were:^[11]

• Social Democratic Party of Austria
• Socialist Party (Francophone) and the Socialist Party (Flemish) of Belgium
• Social Democrats of Denmark
• Socialist Party of France
• Social Democratic Party of Germany
• Panhellenic Socialist Movement of Greece
• Labour Party of Ireland
• Italian Democratic Socialist Party, Italian Socialist Party and Democratic Party of the Left of Italy
• Luxembourg Socialist Workers' Party
• Labour Party of the Netherlands
• Socialist Party of Portugal
• Spanish Socialist Workers' Party
• Swedish Social Democratic Party
• Labour Party and Social Democratic and Labour Party of the UK

2000s

In 2004 Poul Nyrup Rasmussen defeated Giuliano Amato to be elected President of the PES, succeeding Robin Cook in the post. He was re-elected for a further 2.5 years at the PES Congress in Porto on 8 December 2006 and again at the Prague Congress in 2009.

2010s

In 2010, the Foundation for European Progressive Studies was founded as the political foundation (think tank) of the PES.

Mr Rasmussen stood down at the PES Progressive Convention in Brussels on 24 November 2011. He was replaced as interim president by Sergei Stanishev, at the time chairman of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) and former prime minister of Bulgaria.

On 28-29 September 2012, the PES Congress in Brussels^[12] Congress elected interim president Sergei Stanishev as full President, as well as four deputies: Jean-Christophe Cambadélis (1st Vice-President - PS), Elena Valenciano (PSOE), Jan Royall (Labour) and Katarína Neve?alová (Smer-SD). The same Congress elected Achim Post (SPD) as its new secretary general, and adopted a process which it described as "democratic and transparent" for electing its next candidate for Commission President in 2014.^[13]Sergei Stanishev was re-elected PES President on 22-23 June 2015 in Budapest. The Congress also approved Achim Post (SPD) as the Secretary-General as well as the four Vice-Presidents: Jean-Christophe Cambadélis (PS), Carin Jämtin (Swedish Social Democratic Party), Katarína Neve?alová (Smer-SD) and Jan Royall (Labour).

On 7-8 December 2019, the PES Congress gathered in Lisbon to elect its leadership. Sergei Stanishev was confirmed as party President and Achim Post (SPD) as Secretary General. Iratxe García (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party) was elected by the new presidency 1st Vice-President of the PES and Francisco André (Socialist Party (Portugal)), Katarína Neve?alová (Smer-SD) and Marita Ulvskog (Swedish Social Democratic Party) were elected PES Vice-Presidents.

Organisation

Member parties

The PES has thirty-three full member parties from each of the twenty-seven EU member states, Norway and the UK. There are a further twelve associate and twelve observer parties from other European countries.^[14]

State	Name	abbr.	MEPs	National MPs
Austria	Social Democratic Party of Austria Sozialdemokratische Partei Österreichs	SPÖ
Belgium	Socialist Party Parti socialiste	PS	[. 1]	[. 1]
	Socialist Party - Differently Socialistische Partij Anders	sp.a	[. 2]	[. 2]
Bulgaria	Bulgarian Socialist Party Bulgarska sotsialisticheska partiya	BSP
Croatia	Social Democratic Party of Croatia Socijaldemokratska partija Hrvatske	SDP
Cyprus	Movement for Social Democracy ? Kinima Sosialdimokraton	EDEK
Czech Republic	Czech Social Democratic Party ?eská strana sociáln? demokratická	?SSD
Denmark	Social Democrats Socialdemokraterne	A
Estonia	Social Democratic Party Sotsiaaldemokraatlik Erakond	SDE
Finland	Social Democratic Party of Finland Suomen sosialidemokraattinen puolue Finlands socialdemokratiska parti	SDP
France	Socialist Party Parti socialiste	PS
Germany	Social Democratic Party of Germany Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands	SPD
Greece	Panhellenic Socialist Movement ? Panellínio Sosialistikó Kínima	PASOK
Hungary	Hungarian Socialist Party Magyar Szocialista Párt	MSZP
Ireland	Labour Party Páirtí an Lucht Oibre	Lab
Italy	Democratic Party Partito Democratico	PD
	Italian Socialist Party Partito Socialista Italiano	PSI
Latvia	Social Democratic Party "Harmony"[15] Soci?ldemokr?tisk? partija "Saska?a"	SDPS
Lithuania	Social Democratic Party of Lithuania Lietuvos socialdemokrat? partija	LSDP
Luxembourg	Luxembourg Socialist Workers' Party Lëtzebuerger Sozialistesch Aarbechterpartei Parti ouvrier socialiste luxembourgeois Luxemburger Sozialistische Arbeiterpartei	LSAP
Malta	Labour Party Partit Laburista	PL
Netherlands	Labour Party Partij van de Arbeid	PvdA
Norway	Labour Party Arbeiderpartiet	AP	Not in EU
Poland	Democratic Left Alliance Sojusz Lewicy Demokratycznej	SLD
	Labour United Unia Pracy	UP
Portugal	Socialist Party Partido Socialista	PS
Romania	Social Democratic Party Partidul Social Democrat	PSD
Slovakia	Direction - Social Democracy Smer - sociálna demokracia	Smer-SD
Slovenia	Social Democrats Socialni demokrati	SD
Spain	Spanish Socialist Workers' Party Partido Socialista Obrero Español	PSOE
Sweden	Swedish Social Democratic Party Sveriges socialdemokratiska arbetareparti	SAP
United Kingdom	Labour Party	Lab (GB)	Not in EU
	Social Democratic and Labour Party Páirtí Sóisialta Daonlathach an Lucht Oibre	SDLP (NI)	Not in EU
Associated parties
State	Name	abbr.	European MPs	National MPs
Albania	Socialist Party of Albania Partia Socialiste e Shqipërisë	PSS
Bosnia and Herzegovina	Social Democratic Party of Bosnia and Herzegovina Socijaldemokratska partija Bosne i Hercegovine	SDP
Bulgaria	Party of Bulgarian Social Democrats Partiya Bulgarski Sotsialdemokrati	PBS
Iceland	Social Democratic Alliance Samfylkingin	Samf.
Moldova	Democratic Party of Moldova Partidul Democrat din Moldova	PDM
Montenegro	Democratic Party of Socialists of Montenegro Demokratska partija socijalista Crne Gore	DPS
	Social Democratic Party of Montenegro Socijaldemokratska partija Crne Gore	SDP
North Macedonia	Social Democratic Union of Macedonia ? Socijaldemokratski Sojuz na Makedonija	SDSM
Serbia	Democratic Party ? Demokratska stranka	DS		(election boycott)
Switzerland	Social Democratic Party of Switzerland Sozialdemokratische Partei der Schweiz Parti socialiste suisse Partito Socialista Svizzero Partida Socialdemocrata de la Svizra	SP/PS
Turkey	Republican People's Party Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi	CHP
	Peoples' Democratic Party Halklar?n Demokratik Partisi Partiya Demokratîk a Gelan	HDP
Observer parties
State	Name	abbr.	European MPs	National MPs
Andorra	Social Democratic Party Partit Socialdemòcrata	PS
Armenia	Armenian Revolutionary Federation ? Hay Yeghap'vokhakan Dashnakts'ut'iwn	ARF
Egypt	Egyptian Social Democratic Party ? al-?izb al-Ma?r? al-Dimuqr al-Ijtm	ESDP
Georgia	Georgian Dream ? - ? Kartuli ocneba - Demok'rat'iuli Sakartvelo
Israel	Israeli Labor Party ? ? Mifleget HaAvoda HaYisrelit
	Meretz Meretz
Latvia	Latvian Social Democratic Workers' Party Latvijas Soci?ldemokr?tisk? str?dnieku partija	LSDSP
Morocco	Socialist Union of Popular Forces ? ? Al-Ittihad Al-Ishtirakiy Lilqawat Al-Sha'abiyah Union Socialiste des Forces Populaires	USFP
Northern Cyprus	Republican Turkish Party Cumhuriyetçi Türk Partisi	CTP
Palestine	Fatah Fat?
San Marino	Party of Socialists and Democrats Partito dei Socialisti e dei Democratici	PSD
Serbia	Party of Freedom and Justice ? ? ? Stranka slobode i pravde	SSP		(election boycott)
Tunisia	Democratic Forum for Labour and Liberties ? at-Takattul ad-D?muqr min ajl il-'Amal wal-?urriyy?t Forum démocratique pour le travail et les libertés	FDTL

Constituent organisations

The youth organisation of the PES is the Young European Socialists. PES Women is the party's women's organisation, led by Zita Gurmai. The LGBTI campaign organisation is Rainbow Rose.^[16]

International memberships

PES is an associated organisation of Socialist International and the Progressive Alliance.

President and Presidency

The President (currently former Prime Minister of Bulgaria Sergei Stanishev) represents the party on a daily basis and chairs the Presidency, which also consists of the Secretary General, President of the S&D group in Parliament and one representative per full/associate member party and organisation. They may also be joined by the President of the European Parliament (if a PES member), a PES European Commissioner and a representative from associate parties and organisations.^[16]

The list below shows PES presidents and the presidents of its predecessors.^[17]

President		State	National party	Term		Photo
1.	Wilhelm Dröscher	Germany	Social Democratic Party of Germany	April 1974	January 1979
2.	Robert Pontillon	France	Socialist Party	January 1979	March 1980
3.	Joop den Uyl	Netherlands	Labour Party	March 1980	May 1987
4.	Vítor Constâncio	Portugal	Socialist Party	May 1987	January 1989
5.	Guy Spitaels	Belgium	Socialist Party	February 1989	May 1992
6.	Willy Claes	Belgium	Socialist Party	November 1992	October 1994
7.	Rudolf Scharping	Germany	Social Democratic Party of Germany	March 1995	May 2001
8.	Robin Cook	United Kingdom	Labour Party	May 2001	24 April 2004
9.	Poul Nyrup Rasmussen	Denmark	Social Democrats	24 April 2004	24 November 2011
10.	Sergei Stanishev	Bulgaria	Bulgarian Socialist Party	24 November 2011	-

Governance

The parties meet at the party Congress twice every five years to decide on political orientation, such as adopting manifestos ahead of elections. Every year that the Congress does not meet, the Council (a smaller version of the Congress) shapes PES policy. The Congress also elects the party's President, Vice-Presidents and the Presidency.^[16]

The Leader's Conference brings together Prime Ministers and Party Leaders from PES parties three to four times a year to agree strategies and resolutions.^[16]

European election primaries

In December 2009, the PES decided to put forward a candidate for Commission President at all subsequent elections.^[18] On 1 March 2014, the PES organised for the first time a European election Congress where a Common Manifesto^[19] was adopted and the Common Candidate designate for the post of Commission President, Martin Schulz, was elected by over a thousand participants in Rome, Italy. In 2019, progressives elected Frans Timmermans as PES Common Candidate to the European Elections, during the Election Congress in Madrid on 22-23 February 2019.

PES in the European institutions

Overview of the European institutions

Organisation	Institution	Number of seats
European Union	European Parliament
	Committee of the Regions
	European Commission
	European Council (Heads of Government)
	Council of the European Union (Participation in Government)
Council of Europe	Parliamentary Assembly

European Parliament

European Commission

European Commissioners are meant to remain independent, however there has been an increasing degree of politicisation within the Commission.^[20] In the current European Commission, nine of the Commissioners belong to the PES family.

Portfolio	Commissioner	State	Political party	Photo
First Vice President and Executive Vice President; European Green Deal	Frans Timmermans	Netherlands	PvdA
High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy	Josep Borrell	Spain	PSOE
Vice-President; Interinstitutional Relations and Foresight	Maro? ?ef?ovi?	Slovakia	Smer-SD
Jobs and Social Rights	Nicolas Schmit	Luxembourg	LSAP
Economy	Paolo Gentiloni	Italy	PD
Cohesion and Reforms	Elisa Ferreira	Portugal	PS
Equality	Helena Dalli	Malta	PL
Home Affairs	Ylva Johansson	Sweden	S
International Partnerships	Jutta Urpilainen	Finland	SDP

European Council

Of the 27 heads of state and government that are members of the European Council, 6 are from the PES, and therefore regularly attend PES summits to prepare for European Council meetings.

Member State	Representative	Title	Political party	Member of the Council since	Photo
Finland	Sanna Marin	Prime Minister	Social Democratic Party of Finland	10 December 2019
Denmark	Mette Frederiksen	Prime Minister	Social Democrats	27 June 2019
Spain	Pedro Sánchez	Prime Minister	Spanish Socialist Workers' Party	7 January 2020
Malta	Robert Abela	Prime Minister	Labour Party	13 January 2020
Portugal	António Costa	Prime Minister	Socialist Party	26 November 2015
Sweden	Stefan Löfven	Prime Minister	Social Democratic Party	3 October 2014

European Council and Council of Ministers

The states of the European Union by the European affiliations of their leaders, as of 15 January 2021
Does not account for coalitions. Key to colours is as follows:

  European People's Party/EPP Group (11)

(AT, BG, CY, DE, GR, HR, HU, LV, RO, SI, SK)

  Renew Europe (ALDE, EDP, LREM) (7)

(BE, CZ, EE, IE, FR, LU, NL)

  Party of European Socialists (6)

(DK, ES, FI, MT, PT, SE)

  Independent (2)

(IT, LT)

  European Conservatives and Reformists Party (1)

(PL)

Party-alignment at the European Council is often loose, but has been the basis of some intergovernmental cooperation. At present seven countries are led by a PES-affiliated leader, who represents that state at the European Council: Spain (Pedro Sánchez), Portugal (Antonio Costa), Malta (Robert Abela), Denmark (Mette Frederiksen), Finland (Sanna Marin) and Sweden (Stefan Löfven).

The makeup of national delegations to the Council of Ministers is at some times subject to coalitions: for the above governments led by a PES party, that party may not be present in all Council configurations; in other governments led by non-PES parties a PES minister may be its representative for certain portfolios. PES is in coalition in the following countries: Czech Republic, Germany, Italy and Luxembourg.

Overview

State	Governing parties	Affiliated EU party	Population
Germany	Christian Democratic Union Social Democratic Party Christian Social Union	EPP PES EPP	83,166,711
Italy	Five Star Movement Democratic Party Free and Equal	None PES None	60,317,116
Spain	Spanish Socialist Workers' Party Podemos United Left Catalonia in Common	PES None PEL None	47,431,256
Portugal	Socialist Party	PES	10,341,330
Czech Republic	ANO Czech Social Democratic Party	ALDE PES	10,693,939
Sweden	Swedish Social Democratic Party Green Party	PES EGP	10,343,403
Denmark	Social Democrats	PES	5,824,857
Finland	Social Democratic Party of Finland Centre Party Green League Left Alliance Swedish People's Party of Finland	PES ALDE EGP PEL ALDE	5,528,737
Luxembourg	Democratic Party Luxembourg Socialist Workers' Party The Greens	ALDE PES EGP	626,108
Malta	Labour Party	PES	514,564

Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe

Committee of the Regions

PES has 122 members in the Committee of the Regions as of 2014.^[21]

References

External links

• Party of European Socialists, official website
• Parliamentary Group of the Party of European Socialists, official website
• European Youth Plan campaign, official website
• PES Group in the Committee of the Regions, official website