Party of European Socialists

In 1961, the Socialists in the European Parliament attempted to produce a common 'European Socialist Programme' but this was neglected due to the applications of Britain, Denmark, Ireland and Norway to join the European Community. The Socialists' 1962 congress pushed for greater democratisation and powers for Parliament, though it was only in 1969 that this possibility was examined by the member states.[9]

In 1973, Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom joined the European Community, bringing in new parties from these countries. The enlarged Socialist Congress met in Bonn and inaugurated the Confederation of the Socialist Parties of the European Community. The Congress also passed a resolution on social policy, including the right to decent work, social security, democracy and equality in the European economy.[10] In 1978, the Confederation of Socialist Parties approved the first common European election Manifesto. It focused on several goals among which the most important were to ensure a right to decent work, fight pollution, end discrimination, protect the consumer and promote peace, human rights and civil liberties.

At its Luxembourg Congress in 1980, the Confederation of Socialist Parties approved its first Statute. The accession of Greece to the EU in 1981, followed by Spain and Portugal in 1986, brought in more parties.

In 1984, a common Socialist election manifesto proposed a socialist remedy for the economic crisis of the time by establishing a link between industrial production, protection of fundamental social benefits, and the fight for an improved quality of life.[10]

In 1992, with the European Community becoming the European Union and with the Treaty of Maastricht establishing the framework for political parties at a European level, the Confederation of Socialist Parties voted to transform itself into the Party of European Socialists. The party's first programme concentrated on job creation, democracy, gender equality, environmental and consumer protection, peace and security, regulation of immigration, discouragement of racism and fighting organised crime.[10]

Along with the Socialist Group in the European Parliament, the founding members of the PES were:[11]

• Social Democratic Party of Austria
• Socialist Party (Francophone) and the Socialist Party (Flemish) of Belgium
• Social Democrats of Denmark
• Socialist Party of France
• Social Democratic Party of Germany
• Panhellenic Socialist Movement of Greece
• Labour Party of Ireland
• Italian Democratic Socialist Party, Italian Socialist Party and Democratic Party of the Left of Italy
• Luxembourg Socialist Workers' Party
• Labour Party of the Netherlands
• Socialist Party of Portugal
• Spanish Socialist Workers' Party
• Swedish Social Democratic Party
• Labour Party and Social Democratic and Labour Party of the UK

In 2004 Poul Nyrup Rasmussen defeated Giuliano Amato to be elected President of the PES, succeeding Robin Cook in the post. He was re-elected for a further 2.5 years at the PES Congress in Porto on 8 December 2006 and again at the Prague Congress in 2009.

In 2010, the Foundation for European Progressive Studies was founded as the political foundation (think tank) of the PES.

Mr Rasmussen stood down at the PES Progressive Convention in Brussels on 24 November 2011. He was replaced as interim president by Sergei Stanishev, at the time chairman of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) and former prime minister of Bulgaria.

On 28–29 September 2012, the PES Congress in Brussels[12] Congress elected interim president Sergei Stanishev as full President, as well as four deputies: Jean-Christophe Cambadélis (1st Vice-President – PS), Elena Valenciano (PSOE), Jan Royall (Labour) and Katarína Neveďalová (Smer-SD). The same Congress elected Achim Post (SPD) as its new secretary general, and adopted a process which it described as "democratic and transparent" for electing its next candidate for Commission President in 2014.[13] Sergei Stanishev was re-elected PES President on 22–23 June 2015 in Budapest. The Congress also approved Achim Post (SPD) as the Secretary-General as well as the four Vice-Presidents: Jean-Christophe Cambadélis (PS), Carin Jämtin (Swedish Social Democratic Party), Katarína Neveďalová (Smer-SD) and Jan Royall (Labour).

On 7–8 December 2019, the PES Congress gathered in Lisbon to elect its leadership. Sergei Stanishev was confirmed as party President and Achim Post (SPD) as Secretary General. Iratxe García (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party) was elected by the new presidency 1st Vice-President of the PES and Francisco André (Socialist Party (Portugal)), Katarína Neveďalová (Smer-SD) and Marita Ulvskog (Swedish Social Democratic Party) were elected PES Vice-Presidents.

The PES has thirty-three full member parties from each of the twenty-seven EU member states, Norway and the UK. There are a further twelve associate and twelve observer parties from other European countries.[14]

State	Name	abbr.	MEPs	National MPs
Austria	Social Democratic Party of Austria Sozialdemokratische Partei Österreichs	SPÖ	5 / 19	40 / 183 21 / 62
Belgium	Socialist Party Parti socialiste	PS	2 / 8 [. 1]	23 / 63 9 / 24 [. 1]
	Socialist Party – Differently Socialistische Partij Anders	sp.a	1 / 13 [. 2]	13 / 87 5 / 35 [. 2]
Bulgaria	Bulgarian Socialist Party Българска социалистическа партия Bulgarska sotsialisticheska partiya	BSP	5 / 17	80 / 240
Croatia	Social Democratic Party of Croatia Socijaldemokratska partija Hrvatske	SDP	4 / 12	29 / 151
Cyprus	Movement for Social Democracy Κίνημα Σοσιαλδημοκρατών Kinima Sosialdimokraton	EDEK	2 / 6	3 / 56
Czech Republic	Czech Social Democratic Party Česká strana sociálně demokratická	ČSSD	0 / 21	15 / 200
Denmark	Social Democrats Socialdemokraterne	A	3 / 14	47 / 179
Estonia	Social Democratic Party Sotsiaaldemokraatlik Erakond	SDE	2 / 7	10 / 101
Finland	Social Democratic Party of Finland Suomen sosialidemokraattinen puolue Finlands socialdemokratiska parti	SDP	2 / 14	40 / 200
France	Socialist Party Parti socialiste	PS	6 / 79	73 / 348 27 / 577
Germany	Social Democratic Party of Germany Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands	SPD	16 / 96	153 / 709 20 / 69
Greece	Panhellenic Socialist Movement Πανελλήνιο Σοσιαλιστικό Κίνημα Panellínio Sosialistikó Kínima	PASOK	2 / 21	18 / 300
Hungary	Hungarian Socialist Party Magyar Szocialista Párt	MSZP	5 / 21	28 / 199
Ireland	Labour Party Páirtí an Lucht Oibre	Lab	0 / 13	5 / 60 6 / 160
Italy	Democratic Party Partito Democratico	PD	18 / 76	54 / 315 112 / 630
	Italian Socialist Party Partito Socialista Italiano	PSI	0 / 76	1 / 315 1 / 630
Latvia	Social Democratic Party "Harmony"[15] Sociāldemokrātiskā partija "Saskaņa"	SDPS	2 / 8	22 / 100
Lithuania	Social Democratic Party of Lithuania Lietuvos socialdemokratų partija	LSDP	2 / 11	17 / 141
Luxembourg	Luxembourg Socialist Workers' Party Lëtzebuerger Sozialistesch Aarbechterpartei Parti ouvrier socialiste luxembourgeois Luxemburger Sozialistische Arbeiterpartei	LSAP	1 / 6	13 / 60
Malta	Labour Party Partit Laburista	PL	4 / 6	37 / 69
Netherlands	Labour Party Partij van de Arbeid	PvdA	6 / 29	8 / 75 9 / 150
Norway	Labour Party Arbeiderpartiet	AP	Not in EU	49 / 169
Poland	Democratic Left Alliance Sojusz Lewicy Demokratycznej	SLD	5 / 52	1 / 100 24 / 460
	Labour United Unia Pracy	UP	0 / 52	0 / 100 0 / 460
Portugal	Socialist Party Partido Socialista	PS	9 / 21	108 / 230
Romania	Social Democratic Party Partidul Social Democrat	PSD	8 / 33	47 / 136 110 / 330
Slovakia	Direction – Social Democracy Smer – sociálna demokracia	Smer-SD	3 / 14	26 / 150
Slovenia	Social Democrats Socialni demokrati	SD	2 / 8	12 / 90
Spain	Spanish Socialist Workers' Party Partido Socialista Obrero Español	PSOE	21 / 58	139 / 266 123 / 350
Sweden	Swedish Social Democratic Party Sveriges socialdemokratiska arbetareparti	SAP	5 / 21	100 / 349
United Kingdom	Labour Party	Lab (GB)	Not in EU	180 / 794 202 / 632
	Social Democratic and Labour Party Páirtí Sóisialta Daonlathach an Lucht Oibre	SDLP (NI)	Not in EU	0 / 794 2 / 18
Associated parties
State	Name	abbr.	European MPs	National MPs
Albania	Socialist Party of Albania Partia Socialiste e Shqipërisë	PSS		74 / 140
Bosnia and Herzegovina	Social Democratic Party of Bosnia and Herzegovina Socijaldemokratska partija Bosne i Hercegovine	SDP		1 / 15 5 / 42
Bulgaria	Party of Bulgarian Social Democrats партия Български социалдемократи Partiya Bulgarski Sotsialdemokrati	PBS	0 / 17	1 / 240
Iceland	Social Democratic Alliance Samfylkingin	Samf.		7 / 63
Moldova	Democratic Party of Moldova Partidul Democrat din Moldova	PDM		19 / 101
Montenegro	Democratic Party of Socialists of Montenegro Demokratska partija socijalista Crne Gore	DPS		31 / 81
	Social Democratic Party of Montenegro Socijaldemokratska partija Crne Gore	SDP		6 / 81
North Macedonia	Social Democratic Union of Macedonia Социјалдемократски сојуз на Македонија Socijaldemokratski Sojuz na Makedonija	SDSM		49 / 120
Serbia	Democratic Party Демократска странка Demokratska stranka	DS		0 / 250 (election boycott)
Switzerland	Social Democratic Party of Switzerland Sozialdemokratische Partei der Schweiz Parti socialiste suisse Partito Socialista Svizzero Partida Socialdemocrata de la Svizra	SP/PS		39 / 200 9 / 46
Turkey	Republican People's Party Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi	CHP		131 / 550
	Peoples' Democratic Party Halkların Demokratik Partisi Partiya Demokratîk a Gelan	HDP		50 / 550
Observer parties
State	Name	abbr.	European MPs	National MPs
Andorra	Social Democratic Party Partit Socialdemòcrata	PS		3 / 28
Armenia	Armenian Revolutionary Federation Հայ Յեղափոխական Դաշնակցութիւն Hay Yeghap’vokhakan Dashnakts’ut’iwn	ARF		0 / 131
Egypt	Egyptian Social Democratic Party الحزب المصرى الديمقراطى الاجتماعى al-Ḥizb al-Maṣrī al-Dimuqrāṭī al-Ijtmāʿī	ESDP		4 / 596
Georgia	Georgian Dream ქართული ოცნება – დემოკრატიული საქართველო Kartuli ocneba – Demok’rat’iuli Sakartvelo			92 / 150
Israel	Israeli Labor Party מִפְלֶגֶת הָעֲבוֹדָה הַיִּשְׂרְאֵלִית Mifleget HaAvoda HaYisrelit	אמת		3 / 120
	Meretz מֶרֶצ Meretz	מרצ		3 / 120
Latvia	Latvian Social Democratic Workers' Party Latvijas Sociāldemokrātiskā strādnieku partija	LSDSP	0 / 8	0 / 100
Morocco	Socialist Union of Popular Forces الاتحاد الاشتراكي للقوات الشعبية Al-Ittihad Al-Ishtirakiy Lilqawat Al-Sha'abiyah Union Socialiste des Forces Populaires	USFP		24 / 270 20 / 395
Northern Cyprus	Republican Turkish Party Cumhuriyetçi Türk Partisi	CTP		20 / 50
Palestine	Fatah فتح Fatḥ	فتح		45 / 132
San Marino	Party of Socialists and Democrats Partito dei Socialisti e dei Democratici	PSD		3 / 60
Serbia	Party of Freedom and Justice Странка слободе и правде Stranka slobode i pravde	SSP		0 / 250 (election boycott)
Tunisia	Democratic Forum for Labour and Liberties التكتل الديمقراطي من أجل العمل والحريات at-Takattul ad-Dīmuqrāṭī min ajl il-‘Amal wal-Ḥurriyyāt Forum démocratique pour le travail et les libertés	FDTL		0 / 217

The youth organisation of the PES is the Young European Socialists. PES Women is the party's women's organisation, led by Zita Gurmai. The LGBTI campaign organisation is Rainbow Rose.[16]

PES is an associated organisation of Socialist International and the Progressive Alliance.

The President (currently former Prime Minister of Bulgaria Sergei Stanishev) represents the party on a daily basis and chairs the Presidency, which also consists of the Secretary General, President of the S&D group in Parliament and one representative per full/associate member party and organisation. They may also be joined by the President of the European Parliament (if a PES member), a PES European Commissioner and a representative from associate parties and organisations.[16]

The list below shows PES presidents and the presidents of its predecessors.[17]

President		State	National party	Term		Photo
1.	Wilhelm Dröscher	Germany	Social Democratic Party of Germany	April 1974	January 1979
2.	Robert Pontillon	France	Socialist Party	January 1979	March 1980
3.	Joop den Uyl	Netherlands	Labour Party	March 1980	May 1987
4.	Vítor Constâncio	Portugal	Socialist Party	May 1987	January 1989
5.	Guy Spitaels	Belgium	Socialist Party	February 1989	May 1992
6.	Willy Claes	Belgium	Socialist Party	November 1992	October 1994
7.	Rudolf Scharping	Germany	Social Democratic Party of Germany	March 1995	May 2001
8.	Robin Cook	United Kingdom	Labour Party	May 2001	24 April 2004
9.	Poul Nyrup Rasmussen	Denmark	Social Democrats	24 April 2004	24 November 2011
10.	Sergei Stanishev	Bulgaria	Bulgarian Socialist Party	24 November 2011	–

The parties meet at the party Congress twice every five years to decide on political orientation, such as adopting manifestos ahead of elections. Every year that the Congress does not meet, the Council (a smaller version of the Congress) shapes PES policy. The Congress also elects the party's President, Vice-Presidents and the Presidency.[16]

The Leader's Conference brings together Prime Ministers and Party Leaders from PES parties three to four times a year to agree strategies and resolutions.[16]

In December 2009, the PES decided to put forward a candidate for Commission President at all subsequent elections.[18] On 1 March 2014, the PES organised for the first time a European election Congress where a Common Manifesto[19] was adopted and the Common Candidate designate for the post of Commission President, Martin Schulz, was elected by over a thousand participants in Rome, Italy. In 2019, progressives elected Frans Timmermans as PES Common Candidate to the European Elections, during the Election Congress in Madrid on 22–23 February 2019.

European Commissioners are meant to remain independent, however there has been an increasing degree of politicisation within the Commission.[20] In the current European Commission, nine of the Commissioners belong to the PES family.

Portfolio	Commissioner	State	Political party	Photo
First Vice President and Executive Vice President; European Green Deal	Frans Timmermans	Netherlands	PvdA
High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy	Josep Borrell	Spain	PSOE
Vice-President; Interinstitutional Relations and Foresight	Maroš Šefčovič	Slovakia	Smer-SD
Jobs and Social Rights	Nicolas Schmit	Luxembourg	LSAP
Economy	Paolo Gentiloni	Italy	PD
Cohesion and Reforms	Elisa Ferreira	Portugal	PS
Equality	Helena Dalli	Malta	PL
Home Affairs	Ylva Johansson	Sweden	S
International Partnerships	Jutta Urpilainen	Finland	SDP

Of the 27 heads of state and government that are members of the European Council, 6 are from the PES, and therefore regularly attend PES summits to prepare for European Council meetings.

Member State	Representative	Title	Political party	Member of the Council since	Photo
Finland	Sanna Marin	Prime Minister	Social Democratic Party of Finland	10 December 2019
Denmark	Mette Frederiksen	Prime Minister	Social Democrats	27 June 2019
Spain	Pedro Sánchez	Prime Minister	Spanish Socialist Workers' Party	7 January 2020
Malta	Robert Abela	Prime Minister	Labour Party	13 January 2020
Portugal	António Costa	Prime Minister	Socialist Party	26 November 2015
Sweden	Stefan Löfven	Prime Minister	Social Democratic Party	3 October 2014

The states of the European Union by the European affiliations of their leaders, as of 9 February 2021
Does not account for coalitions. Key to colours is as follows:

  European People's Party/EPP Group (11)

(AT, BG, CY, DE, GR, HR, HU, LV, RO, SI, SK)

  Renew Europe (ALDE, EDP, LREM) (7)

(BE, CZ, EE, IE, FR, LU, NL)

  Party of European Socialists (6)

(DK, ES, FI, MT, PT, SE)

  Independent (2)

(IT, LT)

  European Conservatives and Reformists Party (1)

(PL)

Party-alignment at the European Council is often loose, but has been the basis of some intergovernmental cooperation. At present seven countries are led by a PES-affiliated leader, who represents that state at the European Council: Spain (Pedro Sánchez), Portugal (Antonio Costa), Malta (Robert Abela), Denmark (Mette Frederiksen), Finland (Sanna Marin) and Sweden (Stefan Löfven).

The makeup of national delegations to the Council of Ministers is at some times subject to coalitions: for the above governments led by a PES party, that party may not be present in all Council configurations; in other governments led by non-PES parties a PES minister may be its representative for certain portfolios. PES is in coalition in the following countries: Czech Republic, Germany, Italy and Luxembourg.

PES has 122 members in the Committee of the Regions as of 2014.[21]