HIGH LEVEL GROUP TACKLES CONCERNS ABOUT GLOBALISATION (Thursday 26 June 2003)

The Party of European Socialists today stepped up its action on globalisation by announcing the formation of a high-level group to produce a major policy document early next year.

The policy group was set up by PES prime ministers and party leaders at their summit last month in Berlin.

The group will be chaired by former Danish premier Poul Nyrup Rasmussen who last month published a 150-page report setting out policy options to bridge divisions around the world. The report will serve as a key document for a Global Progressive Forum with more than 500 delegates in Brussels on 27 and 28 November.

The high-level group announced today is to submit policy recommendations to the PES Presidency, prime ministers and party leaders by early February next year. The first meeting of the group is expected to take place in mid-October.

Participants include:
Gro Harlem Brundtland, Director general of the World Health Organisation;
Piero Fassino, leader of the Italian Democratic Left;
Elio di Rupo, leader of the Parti Socialiste, Belgium;
Pascal Lamy, European commissioner for trade;
Denis MacShane, UK minister for European affairs
Pierre Moscovici, national secretary for international affairs of the Parti Socialiste, France;
Pär Nuder, Swedish minister for policy coordination;
Raimon Obiols, Spanish deputy leader of the PES Group;
Józef Oleksy, chairman of the European committee of the Polish parliament;
Maria Joao Rodrigues, Portuguese vice-chair of the Socialist International committee on the economy,social cohesion and the environment;
Max van den Berg, Dutch deputy leader of the PES Group, and vice-chairman of the EP development and cooperation committee; and
Christoph Zöpel, chair of the Socialist International committee on the economy, social cohesion and the environment

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