Party of European Socialists

Name

The party's English name is "Party of European Socialists". In addition, the following names are used in other languages:

In March 2014 following the congress in Rome, the PES added the tagline "Socialists and Democrats" to its name following the admission of Italy's Democratic Party into the organisation.

History

1960s

In 1961, the Socialists in the European Parliament attempted to produce a common 'European Socialist Programme' but this was neglected due to the applications of Britain, Denmark, Ireland and Norway to join the European Community. The Socialists' 1962 congress pushed for greater democratisation and powers for Parliament, though it was only in 1969 that this possibility was examined by the member states.

1970s

In 1973, Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom joined the European Community, bringing in new parties from these countries. The enlarged Socialist Congress met in Bonn and inaugurated the Confederation of the Socialist Parties of the European Community. The Congress also passed a resolution on social policy, including the right to decent work, social security, democracy and equality in the European economy. In 1978, the Confederation of Socialist Parties approved the first common European election Manifesto. It focused on several goals among which the most important were to ensure a right to decent work, fight pollution, end discrimination, protect the consumer and promote peace, human rights and civil liberties.

1980s

At its Luxembourg Congress in 1980, the Confederation of Socialist Parties approved its first Statute. The accession of Greece to the EU in 1981, followed by Spain and Portugal in 1986, brought in more parties.

In 1984, a common Socialist election manifesto proposed a socialist remedy for the economic crisis of the time by establishing a link between industrial production, protection of fundamental social benefits, and the fight for an improved quality of life.

1990s

In 1992, with the European Community becoming the European Union and with the Treaty of Maastricht establishing the framework for political parties at a European level, the Confederation of Socialist Parties voted to transform itself into the Party of European Socialists. The party's first programme concentrated on job creation, democracy, gender equality, environmental and consumer protection, peace and security, regulation of immigration, discouragement of racism and fighting organised crime.

Along with the Socialist Group in the European Parliament, the founding members of the PES were:

• Social Democratic Party of Austria
• Socialist Party (Francophone) and the Socialist Party (Flemish) of Belgium
• Social Democrats of Denmark
• Socialist Party of France
• Social Democratic Party of Germany
• Panhellenic Socialist Movement of Greece
• Labour Party of Ireland
• Italian Democratic Socialist Party, Italian Socialist Party and Democratic Party of the Left of Italy
• Luxembourg Socialist Workers' Party
• Labour Party of the Netherlands
• Socialist Party of Portugal
• Spanish Socialist Workers' Party
• Swedish Social Democratic Party
• Labour Party and Social Democratic and Labour Party of the UK

2000s

In 2004, Poul Nyrup Rasmussen defeated Giuliano Amato to be elected President of the PES, succeeding Robin Cook in the post. He was re-elected for a further 2.5 years at the PES Congress in Porto on 8 December 2006 and again at the Prague Congress in 2009.

2010s

In 2010, the Foundation for European Progressive Studies was founded as the European political foundation (think tank) of the PES.

Mr Rasmussen stood down at the PES Progressive Convention in Brussels on 24 November 2011. He was replaced as interim president by Sergey Stanishev, at the time chairman of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) and former prime minister of Bulgaria.

On 28–29 September 2012, the PES Congress in Brussels Congress elected interim president Sergey Stanishev as full President, as well as four deputies: Jean-Christophe Cambadélis (1st Vice-President – PS), Elena Valenciano (PSOE), Jan Royall (Labour) and Katarína Neveďalová (Smer-SD). The same Congress elected Achim Post (SPD) as its new secretary general, and adopted a process which it described as "democratic and transparent" for electing its next candidate for Commission President in 2014. Sergey Stanishev was re-elected PES President on 22–23 June 2015 in Budapest. The Congress also approved Achim Post (SPD) as the Secretary-General as well as the four Vice-Presidents: Jean-Christophe Cambadélis (PS), Carin Jämtin (Swedish Social Democratic Party), Katarína Neveďalová (Smer-SD) and Jan Royall (Labour).

On 7–8 December 2018, the PES Congress gathered in Lisbon to elect its leadership. Sergey Stanishev was confirmed as party President and Achim Post (SPD) as secretary general. Iratxe García (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party) was elected by the new presidency 1st Vice-President of the PES and Francisco André (Socialist Party (Portugal)), Katarína Neveďalová (Smer-SD) and Marita Ulvskog (Swedish Social Democratic Party) were elected PES Vice-Presidents. During the PES Presidency of October 2019, Heléne Fritzon (Swedish Social Democratic Party) became PES Vice-President, replacing Marita Ulvskog.

On 22–23 February 2019, the PES held its Election Congress in Madrid to endorse a Common Candidate and adopt its manifesto for the 2019 European Parliament election. The Election Congress acclaimed European Commission First Vice-President Frans Timmermans and adopted its manifesto: A New Social Contract for Europe.

2020s

On 16 December 2021, the PES held its Council in Brussels, adopting the resolution: Fairness, Sustainability, Respect: a progressive vision for the future of Europe.

On 14–15 October 2022, the PES Congress in Berlin elected Stefan Löfven (Swedish Social Democratic Party) as PES President and welcomed a new PES leadership team: Caroline Gennez (Vooruit (political party)) as Treasurer, Iratxe García (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party) as First Vice President, Katarina Barley (SPD) and Francisco André (Socialist Party (Portugal)) as Executive Vice Presidents, Tanja Fajon (Social Democrats (Slovenia)), Victor Negrescu (Social Democratic Party (Romania)), Kati Piri (Labour Party (Netherlands)), Andrzej Szejna (New Left), and Radmila Šekerinska (Social Democratic Union of Macedonia) as Vice Presidents. Achim Post (SPD) continued as Secretary General, Giacomo Filibeck (Democratic Party (Italy)) took up the position of Executive Secretary General, Yonnec Polet (Socialist Party (Belgium)) remained as Deputy Secretary General, and Saar van Bueren (Labour Party (Netherlands)) became Deputy Secretary General. The Congress adopted the resolution: With Courage For Europe: leading Europe through change.

On 29 June 2023, Georgian Dream was removed from the PES due to activities and positions far outside PES values.

On 12 October, after the 2023 Slovak parliamentary election, the PES suspended Smer-SD and Hlas-SD over their plans to enter into coalition with the ultranationalist Slovak National Party (SNS), which the PES views as a "radical-right party." On 17 October 2025, SMER was expelled from the Party of European Socialists in a unanimous vote for violations of the group's values by party leader Robert Fico.

On 2 March 2024, the PES held its Election Congress in Rome and acclaimed European Commissioner Nicolas Schmit as presidential candidate and adopted its election programme.

Membership

The PES has thirty-three full member parties from each of the twenty-seven EU member states, Norway and the UK. There are a further twelve associate and twelve observer parties from other European countries.

Full members

Associated members

Observer members

Individual members

The PES also includes a number of individual members, although, as most other European parties, it has not sought to develop mass individual membership.

Below is the evolution of individual membership of the PES since 2019. |arg:cols=year,

Organisation

Constituent organisations

The youth organisation of the PES is the Young European Socialists. PES Women is the party's women's organisation, led by Zita Gurmai. The LGBTI campaign organisation is Rainbow Rose.

International memberships

PES is an associated organisation of Socialist International and the Progressive Alliance.

President and Presidency

The President (currently former Prime Minister of Sweden Stefan Löfven) represents the party on a daily basis and chairs the Presidency, which also consists of the Secretary General, President of the S&D group in Parliament and one representative per full/associate member party and organisation. They may also be joined by the President of the European Parliament (if a PES member), a PES European Commissioner and a representative from associate parties and organisations.

As of 19 November 2024 the Presidency of the PES is:

• Sweden Stefan Löfven – President
• Spain Iratxe García – First Vice-President
• Germany Katarina Barley – Executive Vice-President
• Slovenia Tanja Fajon – Vice-President
• Romania Victor Negrescu – Vice-President
• Netherlands Kati Piri – Vice-President
• Poland Andrzej Szejna – Vice-President
• Belgium Caroline Gennez – Treasurer
• Italy Giacomo Filibeck – Secretary General

The list below shows PES presidents and the presidents of its predecessors.

Governance

The parties meet at the party Congress twice every five years to decide on political orientation, such as adopting manifestos ahead of elections. Every year that the Congress does not meet, the Council (a smaller version of the Congress) shapes PES policy. The Congress also elects the party's President, Vice-Presidents and the Presidency.

The Leader's Conference brings together Prime Ministers and Party Leaders from PES parties three to four times a year to agree strategies and resolutions.

European election primaries

In December 2009, the PES decided to put forward a candidate for Commission President at all subsequent elections. On 1 March 2014, the PES organised for the first time a European election Congress where a Common Manifesto was adopted and the Common Candidate designate for the post of Commission President, Martin Schulz, was elected by over a thousand participants in Rome, Italy. In 2019, progressives elected Frans Timmermans as PES Common Candidate to the European Elections, during the Election Congress in Madrid on 22–23 February 2019.

Funding

As a registered European political party, the PES is entitled to European public funding, which it has received continuously since 2004.

Below is the evolution of European public funding received by the PES. |arg:where=party |arg:eq=PES |arg:cols=year,maximum_allocated,amount_received

In line with the Regulation on European political parties and European political foundations, the PES also raises private funds to co-finance its activities. As of 2025, European parties must raise at least 10% of their reimbursable expenditure from private sources, while the rest can be covered using European public funding.

Below is the evolution of contributions and donations received by the PES. |arg:cols=year, |arg:cols=year,

PES in the European institutions

Overview of the European institutions

European Parliament

European Commission

European Commissioners are meant to remain independent, however there has been an increasing degree of politicisation within the Commission. In the current European Commission, five of the Commissioners belong to the PES family.

European Council

Of the 27 heads of state and government that are members of the European Council, three are from the PES, and therefore regularly attend PES summits to prepare for European Council meetings.

In third countries

Through its associate and observer parties the PES has six heads of state or government in non-EU countries:

European Council and Council of Ministers

Party-alignment at the European Council is often loose, but has been the basis of some intergovernmental cooperation. At present five countries are led by a PES-affiliated leader, who represents that state at the European Council: Germany (Olaf Scholz), Spain (Pedro Sánchez), Malta (Robert Abela), and Denmark (Mette Frederiksen).

The makeup of national delegations to the Council of Ministers is at some times subject to coalitions: for the above governments led by a PES party, that party may not be present in all Council configurations; in other governments led by non-PES parties a PES minister may be its representative for certain portfolios. PES is in coalition in the following countries: Romania, Belgium, Slovenia and Estonia.

Overview

Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe

Committee of the Regions

PES has 122 members in the Committee of the Regions as of 2014.

Election results

European Parliament

Notes

References

References

1. (14 October 2022). "Europe's centre-left urges majority voting in some EU foreign policy -paper". Reuters.
2. (2019). "Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics".
3. Nordsieck, Wolfram. (2019). "European Union".
4. Richard Dunphy. (2004). "Contesting Capitalism?: Left Parties and European Integration". Manchester University Press.
5. Robert Thomson. (2011). "Resolving Controversy in the European Union: Legislative Decision-Making Before and After Enlargement". Cambridge University Press.
6. (1 February 2017). "Member parties of the PES".
7. (1 February 2017). "Member parties of the Progressive Alliance".
8. (1 February 2017). "Member parties of Socialist International".
9. (2 March 2014). "Il PSE "omaggia "il PD cambiando ufficialmente nome: PSE – Socialists&Democrats.".
10. "Northern European Social Democracy and European Integration, 1960–1972. Moving towards a New Consensus?". [[Academia.edu]].
11. "History". Socialist Group website.
12. Skrzypek, Ania. (2013). ""Europe, Our Common Future" Celebrating 20 years of the Party of European Socialists". FEPS – Foundation for European Progressive Studies.
13. (26 July 2012). "Together for the Europe we need!". Zita Gurmai, President of PES Women.
14. (14 April 2011). "Ethics in politics : For strong moral conduct through a strong moral code". PES Presidency declaration.
15. (22 February 2019). "A New Social Contract for Europe". Party of European Socialists.
16. (14 December 2021). "Fairness, Sustainability, Respect". Party of European Socialists.
17. (15 October 2022). "PES Congress welcomes new PES leadership team and four new member parties". Party of European Socialists.
18. (14 October 2022). "With Courage For Europe". Party of European Socialists.
19. . (29 June 2023). ["PES Presidency strips Georgian Dream of observer membership"](https://pes.eu/pes/pes-presidency-strips-georgian-dream-of-observer-membership/). *Party of European Socialists*.
20. (12 October 2023). "European socialists suspend Robert Fico's Smer party and its ally Hlas".
21. (18 October 2025). "Europe’s main center-left political group expels Slovak leader's party for breaching its values". AP News.
22. (4 March 2024). "Schmit elected as lead candidate for Commission top job, pledging respect, EU values and combatting the right".
23. "About the PES?". PES website.
24. (27 November 2017). "Saskaņa joins Party of European Socialists". [[Public Broadcasting of Latvia]].
25. (9 September 2018). "United in diversity? Europarties and their individual members' rights". Routledge.
26. "Audit reports and donations".
27. "How does PES work?". PES website.
28. (19 November 2024). "ÊS Governing Body 2024-11-19".
29. "Former PES Presidents". PES website.
30. (8 December 2009). "A New Direction for Progressive Societies. Resolution N. 2 A new way forward. Adopted by the 8th PES Congress". PES.
31. (1 March 2014). "PES Manifesto Towards a New Europe. Adopted by Election Congress 2014 in Rome". PES.
32. "Funding from the European Parliament to European political parties per party and per year".
33. "Audit reports and donations".
34. (January 2026). "EPFO - Understanding party funding". European Democracy Consulting Stiftung.
35. Mahony, Honor. (7 May 2007). "Brussels struggles with communication policy.". EU Observer.
36. "PES Group Members".
37. "Evolution of the number of MEPs member of the European party".
38. "Provisional list of Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) as of 19 July 2024".
39. "Projected composition: Members of the European Parliament".