The president of PASOK, Nikos Androulakis, is today in Rome, where the European Socialist Party officially launches its campaign for the European elections and presents its candidate for the presidency of the European Commission, the Luxembourg Commissioner for Employment and Social Rights, Nicolas Schmitt. In his statement to the Athens Agency, Mr. Androulakis underlined:

“We are here because we have a duty, as socialists and democrats, to offer a new hope to the peoples of Europe. A new hope against conservation, against populism, against the rise of the extreme right, for a Europe of social justice, solidarity, a Europe of geopolitics and social security. This is our vision and we have a duty to strengthen in the European elections, because a strong voice in the European institutions is a guarantee for such a course, for the future of Europe”

Referring to the candidate of the European Socialists for the presidency of the Commission, Mr. Androulakis added:

“I wish Nicholas Schmidt the best of luck. We were colleagues in the European Parliament and we will all fight together for common financial tools, so that we can especially support the countries of the South, to deal with the competitiveness deficit. But also for a common foreign defense policy, for the big issue of the Euro army, so that the European peoples of the region feel safe and for issues concerning the workers, which are his own agenda, with his own plan, because in Europe there is a big job insecurity. We saw what happened, recently, with the platform legislation, where unfortunately the Greek government did not support a major reform to help these workers. These are our concerns and I hope we will succeed.”

Regarding, finally, his meetings with European prime ministers and leaders of progressive parties, the president of PASOK underlined:

“Here in Rome I had useful contacts with the Prime Minister of Portugal, Antonio Costa, the Prime Minister of Spain, Pedro Sanchez, and shortly I will see the secretary of the Italian Democratic Party and former colleague, Ellie Schlein. I served in the European Parliament during a critical period, the period of the economic crisis. I have maintained relations with European leaders, because we experienced particularly difficult times for the unity of Europe, for the needs of the peoples of Europe and especially of the South, with the policies of austerity. That is why this particular experience is useful, I think, in order to have a new, fairer orientation. An orientation that understands that a united Europe cannot be a Europe of the Franco-German axis, but a democratic Europe, where all peoples, young and old, have a strong voice at the co-decision table”.