On the 1st of December 2008 a group of 25 JEFers gathered in Madrid (even more than expected) very early in the morning in order to welcome the participants to the Council of the Party of European Socialists (PES) with T-shirts and flyers asking "Who is your candidate?". Inside, a group of almost 10 JEFers managed to distribute leaflets and put a motion to insert a new agenda point "Election of the Socialist Candidate for the President of the European Commission" on the seats and tables of the Council.
Responding to the Socialists' silence, JEF claimed that the decision not to nominate a socialist candidate for president meant "that the socialists in fact accept the re-nomination of Mr. Barroso". "Considering the proximity of the European Parliament elections, the political parties send a mixed signal to the electorate if they effectively pre-empt the choice of the Commission President before a single vote has been cast", said Andrew Duff, President of the Union of European Federalists.
Martine Aubry, Mercedes Bresso, Walter Veltroni, Martin Schulz, Franz Müntefering, Elio Di Rupo, Giacomo Filibeck (President of ECOSY) and other socialist activists were asked about their wish to nominate a candidate as President of the European Commission. Most of them expressed a lot of interest and support for our initiative. Some of them (Martine Aubry, Elio Di Rupo, Giacomo Filibeck) even stated their support for this idea in public during their speeches saying that they would like this proposal to be included in the PES manifesto.
During the afternoon, the group of JEF activists went out in the streets of Madrid to exchange ideas with the public about this action. Again, the population expressed positive reactions and a lot of interest for this proposal.
On 2 December in the morning, some of the activists managed to participate in the debates of the Socialist Party concerning the 2009 elections. The EP campaign of the PES will turn around a Manifesto serving as political platform, which was adopted unanimously by all national parties. The PES manifesto addresses – with Social-Democratic answers – the same issues raised in the JEF Manifesto. During the discussion, the need of strengthening the decision-making powers of the European Commission and the European Parliament were stressed and shared by most of panelists and activists.
The Manifesto (with the slogan: "People first. A new direction for Europe") will play a key role in the PES election campaign. There will be a "Manifesto tour" to launch the campaign in the different countries and subsequently five "European Days of Action" where events on the same issue will take place on the same day at local, national, and European level. Last but not least: the meeting was a wonderful opportunity to establish new contacts with PES activists.