Socialists hoping finance crisis will win them control of EU parliament
As the financial crisis continues unabated and hardly a day goes by without more news of toxic assets, bank write-downs and credit shortages - the Party of European Socialists (PES) feel they have the answer.
"We've been very active on the issue of market reform, done in teeth of opposition from the European People's Party," PES press officer Julian Scola told the Euobserver.
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"There is a shift at the moment that should favour social democrats," he continued.
The party launched its manifesto last month in Madrid, signalling the start of its election campaign for the European elections taking place across all EU member states this June.
Over the coming months, the party will seek to emphasise the distinction between themselves and opposition parties, particularly over the crisis, and boost publicity for their message and party candidates.
Party president, Danish MEP Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, is set to embark on a 'manifesto tour' of EU capital cities in order to meet with local politicians and activists on the ground and launch the PES manifesto in the different member states.
Similarly, the party is planning several 'European days of action' – co-ordinated events across the European Union where party members and activists will campaign on specific issues.
The first of these takes place over the weekend of 7-8 March on the issue of gender equality. Climate change and 'Relaunching the economy' are also topics on the list.
To help in campaigning, the Socialists will be equipping its national members with an 'election toolkit': a supply of manifesto movies, promotional packs and doorstep one-liners to help activists win over jaded voters.
"It's about presenting policies to the people," Mr Scola says.
He refused to be drawn on which member states represented the best chance to gain seats in the forthcoming elections, saying only that the party "was not favouring any one state and not giving up on any state either."
The PES currently hold 215 out of 783 seats in the European Parliament, making it the second largest party after the centre-right European People's Party..
Their aim for the June elections is simple – reverse this order by winning more seats than the centre-right to become the largest party in parliament.
It is an ambitious goal with only eight governments in the 27-member EU lead by socialist, social democratic or labour parties, and a further three acting as junior coalition partners.
"There was an absence of regulation and an absence of social justice in recent years," says Mr. Scola. "Things are changing fast and in some ways ought to be moving in our direction."
But as he pointed out, it is the voters who will decide.
Meanwhile, the conservatives in the house say the Socialists' are just propagandising over the crisis. This article is part of a series of articles by EUobserver on the forthcoming European parliament elections.