Jun 10 - GSLP Invited To Attend Congress Of PES
The Gibraltar Socialist Labour Party, Gibraltar’s longest established active political party, has announced that it has been invited to attend congresses of the Party of European Socialists (commonly known by its abbreviation as the “PES”).
The PES encompasses all socialist parties inside the European Union.
The PES invitation arises from contact established with that organization by Party Leader and Chief Minister Fabian Picardo in the past year.
Mr Picardo has been updating PES on progress in Gibraltar on delivery of the party’s manifesto commitment, the growth of the Gibraltar economy and the strength of Gibraltar’s public finances.
The first congress which the GSLP has been invited to attend is being held this weekend in Budapest and will be deciding the general aims of the European Socialists within the EU and its action programme for the coming years.
The congress coincides with the session of the United Nations Committee of 24 which Fabian Picardo will be attending as Chief Minister. As a result, Mr Picardo will be unable to attend the PES Congress. The founder of the GSLP, former Leader and Chief Minister, Joe Bossano, will therefore fittingly be attending to represent the party.
The GSLP had applied for membership of PES previously and although the application was never rejected, it was never properly considered.
Now that the GSLP has re-activated its application and Mr Picardo met with current PES President Sergei Stanishev, the party has received a reply from Anne Morin, Head of the Statutory Unit of the PES, saying that the Presidency had now considered the application and, as a first step, was delighted to strengthen links with the GSLP by inviting the party to all PES Congresses and Council meetings. Sergei Stanishev is Bulgarian and was nominated for the role for the role of PES President by the Bulgarian Socialist Party the BSP. He is the incumbent PES President, a position he has held since 2012 (interim since 2011). He was previously the Bulgarian Prime Minister and is currently an MEP. Anne Morin is the Coordinator of the offices of the President and General Secretary of the PES.
The Budapest Congress will elect a new President and will debate and adopt a work plan towards 2019 which includes issues of more democracy within the EU and matters of employment and growth. It will also debate and adopt a resolution on international relations.
Party Leader, Fabian Picardo, said: “This is a massively important step for the GSLP and for Gibraltar as a whole. It represents the culmination of many years of hard work by the many people who have served the GSLP since its inception in 1978. We have long sought to become members and be recognized as a party of the international socialist family. This is a huge step in that direction. We are now starting that process within the PES which is the organization to be in within the EU. For us, this is the equivalent of the GFA taking the first steps towards UEFA membership and which the Liberal Party took some years ago in becoming a party of the European and International Liberal organisations. We are very happy to have been so warmly received by PES and to be working with them now in strengthening the links between us. This is a red letter day for the GSLP and for the whole of Gibraltar. I am particularly pleased that Joe Bossano, the founder of the GSLP will be able to represent me and the party at the Congress this week whilst I am representing Gibraltar at the United Nations.”
Party Founder, Joe Bossano, said: “I am very happy indeed to see that we are now taking the first steps in recognition by PES of the work we have done in Gibraltar as a socialist party. We have a great track record of promoting and maintaining socialist values and of growing our economy, particularly in the past three and a half years, but also in the period of 1988 to 1996 when we first took the GSLP into Government. I am therefore looking forward to sharing experiences with socialist colleagues.”
Pic: Left to right: Joe Bossano, Fabian Picardo and GSLP Chairman Pepe Baldachino.
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