¨We are the political family that should step forward in shaping the future of the EU. Unlike the right wing, we the progressives cannot waste more time before we come united in the name of the European project.  We will propose concrete measures to preserve the European project.¨, stated the PES leader Sergei Stanishev during the Summit of Heads of State and high level European officials from the PES at the Château de la Celle Saint-Cloud – in the vicinity of Paris, 25th of August, 2016. This is the second meeting of the the PES leaders in Paris this year – the previous meeting was on 12 March -, and it is the 5th meeting of our leaders this year.

The main accents were: the no’ vote in the British referendum, measures to achieve economic growth, social cohesion and the most important – how to preserve and further develop the European Project.

The PES already started this discussion among its political family and Socialists and Democrats will come up with a more concrete steps at the next European council preparation meeting in Bratislava in September and then at the PES council in Prague in December.

The leaders from the PES family once again confirmed today, that they should protect their most precious trademark: social rights and the welfare state. PES leaders believe that the ‘austerity only’ approach has been proven to be reductionist and therefore wrong. Instead, the European progressives are calling for a focus on investment because only by boosting growth to create jobs and tax revenue will we guarantee the sustainability of our welfare states in the long term. In that regard, the leaders expressed their wish for the funding for the so-called ‘Juncker Plan’ to be substantially increased in order to amplify its positive effects. The leaders took note of  a proposal by France’s President to double the current amount of €315 billion.

Among the participanst were: Christian Kern, Chancellor of Austriañ Robert Fico, Prime Minister of Slovakia;António Costa, Prime Minister of Portugal; Sigmar Gabriel, Vice Chancellor of Germany; Martin Schulz,President of the European Parliament; Federica Mogherini, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy; Frans Timmermans, First Vice President of the European Commission; Pierre Moscovici, Commissioner on Economic and Financial Affairs ; Alexis Tsipras, Prime Minister of Greece.