PES activists, who were instrumental during the campaign of Socialist Spitzenkandidat Martin Schulz, have launched a petition for the election of Enrique Barón Crespo to replace Sergei Stanishev as President of the centre-left European political family.

The initiators of the petiton are PES Activists’ national and local Coordinators: Viola Weyer and Gabriel Richard-Molard (Germany), Aleksander Glogowski (France), Naxalli Lozano, Alegría Alonso and Juan Jesús Martín Chamoso (Salamanca), Horacio Diez (Madrid), José Reis Santos (Portugal), Mikael Wesström Bjorn (Roma), Koen Maes (The Netherlands), Atenea Melgarejo Vargas, Roman Syrbu, Isabel Brañas (Nat. Coordinators for Spain), and Theodoros Douloumpekis (Crete and national coord for Greece).

According to the activists behind the petition, Enrique Barón seems to have the favour of European activists, and many of the delegates, while Stanishev, due to his current position is trying to get the support of the party’s executives.

“At this stage, the PES activists play an active role and want to have their say. After discussions with the two candidates, they have taken their decision,” the authors of the petition write, throwing their weight behind the Spanish candidate.

“In order to reverse the current direction of the Socialist boat, we need a new Captain. For us, Socialist activists from all over Europe, this Captain has a name: Enrique Barón,” the activists write.

Although the authors of the petition diplomatically refrain from criticising Stanishev, some of them told Heard in Europe that the current holder of the post was so unpopular in his own country, that he should not have sought re-election as PES President in the first place.

In Stanishev’s native Bulgaria, another group of Socialists left the Bulgarian Socialist Party, just because it is in decline, and had no other purpose than serving his re-election as PES leader.

And in describing Barón’s strengths, the activists obviously throw stones at Stanishev.

“[Barón’s] is truly someone which praised beforehand the collective. A leader who put all his ambitions in the mutualization, not in himself,” they stated.

Photograph courtesy of Festivaldirrito. Published under a Creative Commons licence.

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Author : Heard in Europe