Squaring the circle of global markets and national politics

PES Congress fell short of answering the key question: can the left show voters it possesses the inspirational leadership and credible economic solutions to launch a comeback?

Under a cube of glass next to the Rue Mont des Arts in central Brussels, you will find an enormous conference centre called ’Square‘. It was here that some 2,000 European progressives descended last weekend for the Re:new Convention, organised by the Party of European Socialists (PES).

A concerted effort had been made to invite labour unions, thinktanks and grass root activists. The result was the biggest ever convention for European progressives, but the welcome increase in attendance was, unfortunately, not the major difference compared to previous meetings.

In addition to workshops, book cafés and traditional mingling, meetings like these always evolve around panels called leaders conversations. In short, progressive prime ministers talk and share insights with party leaders who are positioning themselves for government.

But during the weekend’s panels, not a single progressive prime minister graced us with their wisdoms or the taste of winning elections. The reason for this breakdown in knowledge transfer is simple. The European Union currently only has two progressive prime ministers: Werner Faymann in Austria and Helle Thorning-Schmidt of Denmark. The former was, according to reliable sources, spotted in one of the corridors after a meeting behind closed doors. The latter was busy at home, preparing the forthcoming Danish EU-presidency.

The combination of the euro crisis and the lack of heavyweight progressive politicians created an equation that became the weekend’s elephant in the room. Since Lehman Brothers crashed in September 2008, there have been 24 national elections in EU member states. Against a backdrop of a major financial crisis and mass unemployment, Europe’s social democratic family have lost 19 of them.

So, what explains the state progressives are in? The first line of defence was to yell at the other team, preferably in an angry speech conducted from the podium in several languages. Yes, there are always a few of those speeches. This time, it was noticeable how Merkel and Sarkozy – and the popular combinations of their names, such as ’Merkozy‘ – were mentioned with the same mixture of respect and loathing once reserved for Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan.

Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, PES president from 2004-11, should be given credit for his attempt to offer a road map – always presented with relentless energy. The weekend at ’Square‘ was his farewell performance. He has breathed new life into PES, but is leaving his post prematurely due to health reasons. In his speech, Rasmussen mixed personal stories with passionate attacks on the financial markets, echoing his warnings before the crash of 2008.

But speeches aside, what of potential policy? One must note that the progressive parties of Europe lack a joint programme to tackle the euro crisis. The British Labour Party opposes the idea of Eurobonds (now also called Stability Bonds) and the Swedish SAP seems to support Labour in their reluctance towards a European Union financial transaction tax (FTT).

Pascal Lamy, French progressive and director-general of the WTO, complicated the picture even further in one of the ‘leaders conversations’ with two simple observations. The markets are global. Progressive parties are in office in several countries in South America, and are making strong progress in parts of Asia. But a well-functioning global forum for progressives, where questions such as the regulation of financial markets and global democracy can be discussed, does not exist. The Socialist International, famous for keeping Hosni Mubarak and others shady parties among its members, is not regarded as functioning well enough.

Sure, there were promising signs as well. The lack of heavyweight leaders moved the gravity of the conference towards the workshops, where books and magazines were presented in debates that often had a more promising outlook than the nostalgic rear-view mirror. And in the absence of well-known leaders, others rose to the occasion. Paul Magnette, minister for climate and energy in the Van Rompuy I government, delivered the best speech of the weekend. In an Obama-esque way, Magnette writes good books, delivers inspiring speeches, and has charisma (ie looks perfectly normal and wears a modern suit and skinny tie). Remember where you heard his name first.

Otherwise, most speeches included promises about the need to listen to the people. But one could assume that quite a few of Europe’s voters are longing for progressive leaders who can present concrete ideas about how to solve the economic mess their continent is currently in. The former Bulgarian Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev, who is replacing Rasmussen, cannot be expected to organise the necessary progressive comeback from his position as interim PES president. Instead, most people in Brussels were already looking ahead to the national electoral cycle. Soon Christmas will have passed. Presidential and parliamentary elections await France in the spring. Germany in 2013. Italy whenever.

So, will François Hollande, Peer Steinbrück and Pier Luigi Bersani sit as heads of government in a panel at the next big convention? Progressive election victories in three of Europe’s biggest countries are more likely to inspire the necessary comeback than several well organised meetings in conference centres (even if we need those as well). But that tricky hurdle is still there. We live in an age of austerity, populism and technocratic solutions. The voters must be convinced that the parties they have rejected since the crash of Lehman Brothers have learnt the lesson and are now presenting inspiring leaders and sound economic ideas.

Unfortunately, 2,000 progressives under a cube of glass did not manage to square this circle.

In short: the left left 'Square' still squared.

A contribution to State of the Left, a monthly insight report from Policy Network's Social Democracy Observatory

Eric Sundström is editor in chief of the Swedish daily progressive online newspaper Dagens Arena and the FEPS Europe-wide progressive magazine Fresh Thinking