Meeting in the regional parliament in Berlin on 15-16 September, hosted by the Social Democratic Party, SPD, the Socialist International Committee on the Economy, Social Cohesion and the Environment set forward its plan of activities
The meeting, chaired by Christoph Zöpel, Chair of the Committee, had as its main theme "Political responsibility in a global society: the social democratic approach to the economy, social cohesion and the environment". Mike Moore, Director General of the World Trade Organisation, WTO, Kari Tapiola, Executive Director of the Standards and Fundamental Principles at Work Sector of the International Labour Organisation, ILO, and Erkki Tuomioja, Foreign Minister of Finland, were among the introductory speakers on the main theme.
Tapiola commented, "Up to the end of the Cold War the international labour market which was relatively open, was in fact limited to the first world of industrialised countries. Now today working people in the first, second and third world are increasingly in a situation of direct competition with one another. Fortunes are created and destroyed by intensified competiton".
Moore added: "We ought to celebrate the fact that the peace and prosperity that are enjoyed in most of the planet were not the result of doing nothing but the result of far-sighted policymakers, heroes who worked in the parliaments, in the streets, in the trade unions, in the political parties and I think we on the left have a lot to be proud of".
"It was the left and progressive people who built the welfare state, it was the left and progressive people who have always struggled and battled for those who are marginalised, sick, old or left out."
The Committee agreed to focus its work, with an emphasis on equal opportunities and participation for women and men, poor and rich, developing, transitional and developed countries, on the following themes: Economic Policy and Globalisation: Growth, Equity and Social Justice; Ecology: Safeguarding the Global Heritage; Human Security as a Challenge for Governance; Bridges across the Digital Gap: The Role of Education in the 21st Century; The Quest for Identity in a World without Borders; Above and Below the Nation-State: The Role of Regional Integration and Subregional and Local Communities in a System of Governance in a Global Society; Governance in a Global Society - the Reform of the International Institutions - Participation of Citizens, Democratic Parties and Parliaments.
Other issues discussed included the future work of its two Working Groups on the World Trade Organisation and the Kyoto Agreement and the Committee agreed on a framework for future meetings and activities. The Committee will next be convened in Morocco at the end of February 2001.
Chair of the Committee
Christoph Zöpel
(Germany, SPD)
Secretary General of the SI
Luis Ayala
ALBANIA
Socialist Party, SPA
Arben Malaj
AUSTRIA
Social Democratic Party of Austria, SPÖ
Albrecht Konecny
BELGIUM
Socialist Party, PS
Hervé Parmentier
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Dominican Revolutionary Party, PRD
Iván Reyes
FINLAND
Finnish Social Democratic Party, SDP
Erkki Tuomioja
(Chair, Working Group on WTO)
Tarja Kantola
FRANCE
Socialist Party, PS
Tristan Klein
GERMANY
Social Democratic Party of Germany, SDP
Ursula Burchard
Reinhard Schultz
Mickael Müller
Achim Post
Wolfgang Weege
Ralf Sitte
GREECE
Panhellenic Socialist Movement, PASOK
Irene Lambraki
ISRAEL
Israel Labour Party, ILP
Israel Gat
MALAYSIA
Democratic Action Party, DAP
Lim Kit Siang
MEXICO
Party of Democratic Revolution, PRD
Ifigenia Martínez Hernández
Juan José García Ochoa
MEXICO
Institutional Revolutionary Party, PRI
Ildefonso Guajardo
NORWAY
Norwegian Labour Party, DNA
Kathrine Raadim
TERRITORIES UNDER PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY, PALESTINE
Fatah
Hanni Al-Hassan
Yussef Al-Beiyisa
PORTUGAL
Socialist Party, PS
Maria João Rodrigues
SENEGAL
Socialist Party, PS
Papa Amath Dieng
SLOVAKIA
Party of the Democratic Left, SDL
Martin Sobek
SOUTH AFRICA
African National Congress, ANC
Cheslyn Mostert
SPAIN
Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party, PSOE
Germá Bel
SWEDEN
Swedish Social Democratic Party, SAP
Lotta Fogde
TUNISIA
Constitutional Democratic Assembly, RCD
Hachmi Amri
TURKEY
Republican People’s Party, CHP
Murat Karayalcin
Socialist International Women, SIW
Pia Locatelli
Parliamentary Group of the PES
Erika Mann
SI Secretariat
Latifa Perry
Sophie Thérouanne
Guests:
Director-General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO)
Mike Moore
Executive Director of the Standards and Fundamental Principles at
Work Sector of the International Labour Organisation (ILO)
Kari Tapiola
If you are looking for an earlier meeting, please consult the LIBRARY section.