Why social democracy? Social, Democratic, Sustainable Europe, Proud Greece!

Anna Karamanu 05 June 2024

We want an independent, just, democratic, and safe Europe. A Europe that supports young people and respects diversity. A feminist Europe, based on universal values and equality, that does not separate economic from social and environmental policy. A Europe that mobilizes to ensure the sustainability of our planet, with social justice and new opportunities for all. This is how the Manifesto for the European elections of the European Socialist Party (PES), the strongest progressive political force in Europe, creator of the Social Europe, based on the values of equality, justice, and solidarity, begins.

Social democracy as an autonomous political ideology, committed to “European values,” was successfully tested in practice. In Scandinavia, in particular, it created model states of law. The economic prosperity and social peace experienced by post-war Europe were the result of the social democratic movement. Historically, social democracy managed to combine the productive dynamism of capitalism with the protection of societies, with quality free education, a strong public health system, housing and infrastructure for small children, and dignified old age.

At the end of the 1990s, social democracy was at its best: 13 out of the 15 EU member countries had social democratic governments. Their ideas shaped public discourse and the political agenda. As a Member of the European Parliament at that time, I felt proud of the achievements of Europe and Greece: Euro, Schengen, the Helsinki Council with the lifting of the veto for Turkey and the accession of Cyprus to the EU, abolition of the mention of religion on identity cards, good Greek-Turkish relations, the exemplary Greek Presidency of 2003, with Prime Minister Kostas Simitis successfully managing the crisis with the Iraq war (presidency model is what all European parties called it then), preparation for the successful 2004 Olympics, large projects everywhere. Greece at that time enjoyed respect and honor all over the world! At that time, all European countries experienced periods of stable growth and an increase in our standard of living.

However, today Europe is facing major challenges: The rapidly worsening climate change, the ongoing economic crises, the widening social inequalities, the rising cost of living, geopolitical tensions and threats to global peace, even with the use of nuclear weapons, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the war in the Middle East, and the escalating violence of all kinds create a nightmarish condition.

The economic crisis that started in the US in 2008 initially created the expectation that it would lead to an increase in the power of social democracy. However, contrary to expectations, discontent with austerity policies and the decline in the standard of living strengthened center-right and in many cases far-right parties. In other words, despite the criticism of market greed and the neoliberalism’s lack of accountability, with few exceptions, there was no rise in the influence of social democracy.

In the public dialogue that has developed, some argue that social democracy must be modernized for the benefit of markets and privatizations and that we should abandon Keynesian redistributive economic policies. Others contend that we need to redefine the new social role of the state. A strong conviction of progressive thought is that the state should be involved in the design and reform of the country’s institutions to solve problems and mediate conflicting interests. Others estimate that in the face of the neoliberal model, we need to oppose a credible alternative model of progressive political economy.

Certainly, the decline of the social democratic PASOK fits into this broader decline of European Social Democracy, without, of course, ignoring our own “particular” circumstances. In 2010, it marked the most significant economic crisis in post-war Greek history, and all the benefits of the healthy economy that PASOK handed over to the right-wing government of Kostas Karamanlis in 2004 were lost. The mathematics and published economic indicators demonstrate the poor management and the inflation of debt during the three years 2006-2009.

In the 2009 elections, PASOK found the economy in its deathbed and was left alone to manage the revival of the dying, signing a rescue memorandum with the Troika (EU, IMF, ECB). At the same time, all other parties abstained and showed indifference to the national disaster, tearing the jersey of the Greek National Team and engaging in a relentless war against PASOK, aiming to appropriate its electoral base and politically benefit from the country’s collapse. During the same period in Portugal and Spain, the entire political system supported the efforts to tackle the crisis and save their country. In Greece, unfortunately, the vampires of national division and civil war revived in all their morbid grandeur. The squares of the indignant followed, along with Samaras’s Zappeion and the grandiloquence of SYRIZA that would abolish the memorandums “with one law and one article”! Is the voracity of Tsipras for power forgotten, which drove him to embrace the nationalist far-right of Kammenos and gamble Greece’s participation in the eurozone?

The crisis and the lack of basic unity and patriotism in the political system was followed by the impoverishment of the thriving middle class. This tragic outcome, which halved the incomes of Greeks, will torment us for many more years. The average Greek standard of living is currently just higher than that of Bulgaria, lower than that of Romania, Slovakia, and other former Eastern countries that emerged devastated from the Soviet system and joined the EU in 2004. Despite the official statistics and the declarations of the government of New Democracy about growth and rising investments, 2/3 of Greeks have not seen any improvement in their standard of living from 2010 until today, with the poorest among the poor being retirees, women, and youth.

Therefore:

In the elections of June ^9th, we will elect 21 Greeks and Greek women from the 720 Members of the European Parliament. The party that bears the fewest sins and has always operated with the national interest and the welfare of the many in mind is PASOK – Movement for Change! The composition of the ballot is also excellent! The best that Greek society has to offer in knowledge, experience, and ethos! Therefore, it deserves our vote! We vote for social democracy!

PASOK, along with the entire social democratic family, is fighting against conservative and far-right forces, in order to establish humanitarian values and promote sustainable solutions to the problems of underdevelopment and absolute poverty that plague two-thirds of the world’s population and lead to waves of migrants and refugees. Social democracy is the progressive political force that can address issues of development and social cohesion, terrorism and security, while simultaneously advocating for a new role for Europe within the framework of a global democratic governance, aiming for the peaceful coexistence of people through the fair distribution of the goods of development, technology, and science.

P.S. We don’t forget to vote and women, 50/50!