The Party of European Socialists (PES) President Poul Nyrup Rasmussen stated yesterday in Madrid that conservative majorities in Europe have become an impediment to finding a global solution to the crisis. Pointing out a lack of political leadership and a worrying dependence on the undemocratic power of credit rating agencies, President Rasmussen called for a major shift in the economic policy at national and international level.

He was speaking in the plenary panel “A Global Growth Pact” during the third Global Progress Conference. The event was organised by Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba (PSOE candidate), IDEAS Foundation, FEPS, and the Center for American Progress. It focused on creating better job opportunities for young people and on improving the Welfare State. Other leaders in attendance included newly elected French Presidential candidate, François Hollande, former President of Brazil, Luis Inázio Lula da Silva and former UK Prime Minister, Gordon Brown.

Rasmussen emphasized that; “conservative leaders are so obsessed with austerity that they are forgetting about the importance of developing sustainable growth. The consequence of such mishandling may well be another year of recession. Only a progressive Europe can implement the solutions we need, and the solutions that the PES has been advocating since the onset of the crisis".