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EUROPEAN UNION: IDENTITY CRISIS IN THE SOCIALIST PARTIES
Mario Soares
APRIL 2009 (IPS) - While the first good news on the economic crisis is arriving from the US, Barack Obama continues to fight on all fronts, with rigour and courage. In contrast, in the European Union there is a marked lack of responsible leaders, writes Mario Soares, ex-president and ex-prime minister of Portugal.
In this article, Soares writes that European elections are set for the first days of June, and given the lack of new ideas and the anaemia of the debate, a low turnout is expected.
The European Socialist Party has a seven-point plan to weather the economic crisis and use the opportunity to fashion a better and more just future. Yet three European prime ministers -Brown of the UK, Spain's Zapatero, and Portugal's Socrates- have all endorsed current EU president Jose Manuel Durao Barroso, candidate of the right, for reelection. Is this an ideological renunciation for personal or national reasons? The Socialist Party would be shirking its responsability if it didn't present a socialist candidate, and there is certainly no shortage of qualified contenders.
The leaders mentioned must respond to their obligations and if they don't they will be responsible for a decisive electoral loss, in addition to which they would leave the European Union without the leadership it needs to cooperate closely with the US under Obama to overcome the crisis.
(*) Mario Soares is ex-president and ex-prime minister of Portugal
//NOT FOR PUBLICATION IN CANADA, CZECH REPUBLIC, IRELAND, POLAND, THE UNITED STATES, AND THE UNITED KINGDOM//
(END/2009)
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