ECOSY BM Brussels Nov2010 R&amp D All

ECOSY Bureau Meeting
Brussels, Belgium 26th – 28th November 2010

Organized thanks to the hospitality of ANIMO and MJS Belgium
RESOLUTIONS AND DECLARATIONS

ECOSY – Young European Socialists
www.ecosy.org
RESOLUTIONS AND DECLARATIONS
Title Page
Resolution For a more democratic and federal Europe 4
Proposed by: ECOSY Presidium
Resolution EU Commission has to keep word in state aid for 7
Europe’s coal industry
Resolution Resolution on the Youth on the Move initiative 8
Resolution Fight against the European Right! 11
Proposed by: SJÖ Austria, ANIMO, Young Labour, Mladi
Forum
Declaration Fight (higher) education cut plans in Europe! 12
Proposed by VSStÖ Austria, Animo Belgium, Labour
Students UK, SONK Finland
Declaration Workers’ right to strike for better working 13
conditions must be defended
Proposed by: SONK & SDY Finland
Declaration ECOSY supports open methods in selecting the 14
PES candidate for the European Commission
President
Proposed by: SONK, SDY-F, Sinistra Giovanile, FGS
Italy, SSU and SSF.
Declaration Fight family allowance cuts – Solidarity with 15
student protests in Austria!
Proposed by: VSStÖ Austria, SJÖ Austria
Declaration DECLARATION 16
Proposed by: Societas Hungary

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Resolutions and Declarations
Held thanks to hospitality of Animo and MJS Belgium
In Brussels, Belgium 26th – 28th November 2010
www.ecosy.org

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1 For a more democratic and federal Europe
2 Proposed by: ECOSY Presidium
3
4 According to the principle of subsidiarity, political decisions should be taken at the
5 most appropriate level thus guaranteeing effectiveness for the benefit of the people.
6 Therefore ECOSY demands that that challenges that require a European-wide
7 approach are dealt with on the European level. With 27 member states it has become
8 of the utmost importance to reform the existing institutional framework. ECOSY –
9 Young European Socialists stand for a federal and democratic Europe that allows the
10 Union to be a strong political actor and calls for a New Consensus For Europe and its
11 immediate implementation.
12
13 1. Democratise the EU institutions
14
15 ECOSY - Young European Socialists believes that the European Union should not be
16 the Europe of the member states only. For the member states and the European
17 citizens the European Union is the level of strong and active cooperation to which
18 competences have to be delegated in order to tackle and solve problems the
19 European society and people are facing today. For ECOSY, pursuing a democratic and
20 federal Europe is both an ideal and ambitious agenda to reform the current
21 institutional framework. In order to reach this the legitimacy and the capacity of the
22 European institutions have to be improved.
23
24 • The reform of the European Parliament (EP) is, for ECOSY, a necessary start.
25 It needs to have the power to co-decide on all Union legislation, full
26 budgetary powers and the right of initiative. The European Parliament is the
27 only institution directly elected by the citizens of the Union. In order to
28 increase its legitimate representation the seats should be gradually -
29 proportionally to population - distributed. In that, adequate representation of
30 all the Member States has to be ensured.
31
32 • The European Council should limit itself to exclusively long term coordination.
33 The EP and the Council of the European Union together hold the legislative
34 powers of the Union as a bicameral system. The Council of the EU should be
35 transformed into a truly representative upper house of the Union‘s bicameral
36 system, representing the member states and consisting of delegates
37 nominated for fixed terms of national legislature. The European Parliament
38 should share the legislative power with this upper house.
39
40 • The Commission should be reformed and then developed into the government
41 of the EU, as the main executive power. This Commission must promote the
42 interests of all European citizens. The EU administration has to be thoroughly
43 reformed in order to improve its effectiveness and transparency. In order for
44 the Commission to efficiently function as a European government, it is
45 essential that the Commission is appointed as such, based on a joint
46 government policy paper adopted by a majority in the European Parliament.
47 The Commission must be formed as a coalition between political groups,
48 without interference from member state governments or parliaments. The
49 composition of the Commission must follow the results of the European
50 Parliament elections. Every Commissioner should be appointed to a concrete
51 portfolio, and the number of Commissioners should be fixed accordingly.
52 European political parties have to name their candidates for the Commission
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53 posts in the electoral campaign. The Commission and its members have to be
54 individually accountable to the EP.
55
56
57 2. Citizens need to be actively involved
58
59 The involvement of the civil society in European decision-making is crucial for the
60 participation of citizens and the legitimacy of its institutions. During the recent years,
61 the number of critics of the European Union has been growing. People feel a distance
62 between the Union and its purpose.
63
64 • Citizens of Europe need to be empowered to follow, scrutinise and engage in
65 the work of the EU. The principle of transparency must be realised. Freedom
66 of information and public access to official records are our right. All
67 proceedings of the Council should be open to the public.
68
69 • Civil society has to be engaged in the decision-making process. The
70 establishment of citizens fora should be used as a tool by which a European
71 public sphere is reinforced. The guidelines of the involvement of the Economic
72 and Social Committee needs to be thoroughly reviewed.
73
74 • Lobbying at the European level should be organised according to transparent
75 and democratic mechanisms, and information about all funding and donations
76 - public as well as private - to the parties and candidates must be made easily
77 accessible to the public, and has to include all stakeholders. We must
78 strengthen the protection of citizen’s activism throughout Europe, especially
79 in areas where participatory democracy and citizens’ freedoms of association
80 are threatened.
81
82 • We want to give the European elections a true European dimension. As
83 recommended in the EP Report on the future of the European political parties
84 Statutes, we believe that a political party statute should be adopted on the EU
85 level. What is more, ECOSY fully supports the idea of common electoral
86 manifestos and campaigns, which is why we welcome the new regulations
87 allowing the European political parties to campaign on the national level. We
88 want the members of the European parliamentary groups to be accountable
89 to the European parties and their programmes and to state which political
90 group they intend to join in the assembly. The European foundations, created
91 by the European political parties in 2007, have to be further developed and
92 lead the mission of research and citizens’ education.
93
94 • The common European identity of all of Europe’s citizens has to be
95 strengthened. To increase the citizen’s participation, ECOSY promotes the
96 idea of European debates throughout the Member States, and fully supports
97 the right of a “citizens initiative” and the establishment of a real European
98 media.
99
100
101 3. A constitution for Europe
102
103 Since its foundation, ECOSY has worked towards a Union of citizens that has a strong
104 political role to play. For this reason ECOSY strives towards a federal and democratic
105 EU, which principles and core policies are to be codified in a Constitution. ECOSY –
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106 Young European Socialists demand political leadership to bring the necessary
107 institutional reforms forward, in combination with strengthening the social dimension
108 of the Union.
109
110 • The direction for institutional reforms, as outlined in the Lisbon Treaty, has to
111 be advanced. The content of the future constitution has to include the
112 development of majority voting, changing the modification procedure and
113 making enhanced cooperation mechanism more flexible.
114
115 • It is necessary to design a roadmap for re-launching the European
116 constitutional process. ECOSY – Young European Socialists call for the
117 inclusion of a new civil dialogue on this matter. Young people should be
118 especially empowered to participate in drafting this roadmap and engage in
119 the new civil dialogue.
120
121 • A new European constitution should put more emphasis on: a social and
122 employment agenda, protection of public services, tackling climate change, a
123 sustainable energy policy, disarmament, an enlargement policy and reform of
124 the financial system.
125
126 • Once drafted, the European Constitution should be submitted to the European
127 citizens for acceptance through the process of a European wide referendum.

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128 EU Commission has to keep word in state aid for Europe’s coal
129 industry
131
132 In July the EU Commission took surprisingly a decision to stop the state aid for
133 Europe’s coal industry by 2014. The state aid is not financed by the EU. It’s financed
134 by the member states which still have coal mines. But the EU Commission is affected
135 because of the common market law and state aid regulation. The decision was
136 surprisingly because the existing EU state aid regulation for the coal industry is
137 guaranteeing the public grants until the year 2018. Thus EU Commission is not
138 keeping its word.
139
140 The state aid is essential for the remaining coal mines Europe because the coal is not
141 “competitive” on the world market. Without any state aid the remaining coal mines in
142 Europe will have to close in the near future. More than 100.000 workers are still
143 directly employed in the coal industry in Europe. The number of workers which are
144 affected by the decision indirectly is even higher and can only be approximated.
145
146 Reasons for subsidizing the coal industry
147 Firstly, only a few of Europe’s remaining coal mines are competitive on the world
148 market. Coal from Europe is more expensive than coal from other regions in the
149 world because of various reasons. Besides geological aspects the high security
150 standards for workers in European coal mines are a lot higher than in other regions
151 in the world. Safety at work is an achievement of Europe’s labor movement and is
152 not negotiable. This justifies the public grants.
153
154 Secondly, Europe is highly dependent on energy imports (mainly oil and natural
155 gas). Cola is a natural resource which is available in a huge amount in Europe. If the
156 last coal mines are shut down the prices for coal on the world market will explode
157 because there are only a few countries exporting coal. As long as Europe is still using
158 coal for energy production we are dependent on few exporting countries. Those
159 countries are brought in a monopoly position by closing our coal mines. To reopen a
160 closed coal mine high investments are necessary and it will take a few years until the
161 depletion can begin again. Thus, Europe is having a strategic interest keeping its coal
162 mines open.
163
164 Thirdly, the shift towards energy production from 100% renewable energy will take
165 decades and will cause enormous costs. Higher energy prices are the consequence.
166 For Europe’s industrial sector low energy prices are essential to compete in the world
167 market. An industrial sector is important for Europe’s economy. The industrial sector
168 is creating real values and guaranteeing a stable economy.
169
170 What we want
171 ECOSY – Young European Socialists is demanding
172 - The EU Commission has to keep its word and to guarantee the state aid for
173 the coal industry until 2018.
174 - The EU member states should reject the proposal for the new state aid
175 regulation on coal industry.
176 - We declare our full solidarity with the workers fighting against this EU
177 Commission proposal.
178 - We further support the trades unions especially in Spain, Hungary, Poland and
179 Germany in their struggle against this EU Commission proposal.
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180 Resolution on the Youth on the Move initiative

182
183 In September 2010 the European Commission published a communication on the
184 flagship initiative "Youth on the Move". ECOSY - Young European Socialists, while
185 wholeheartedly supporting all efforts to achieve better education and higher mobility,
186 is disappointed with the initiative exactly for not properly addressing those
187 objectives.
188
189 The European Commission narrows students down to future workers when it
190 addresses the improvement of the quality of education according to the criterion of
191 employability, academic enrichment down to professional skills when aiming to
192 increase student mobility, and sacrifices democratization of education for the
193 university-business dialogue.
194
195 ECOSY - Young European Socialists believe that education should be at the centre of
196 the Youth on the Move flagship initiative. Its objective should not just be to "help
197 young people succeed in the knowledge economy", but in society and achieve self-
198 fulfilment as human beings. Education should be about learning, forming opinions,
199 participating and emancipating oneself.
200
201 Education should not be denied to anyone. Yet, the Commission's commitment to the
202 youngest learners is insufficient. Reducing early school leavers from 14.4% to 10% is
203 non-ambitious at best. At worst, it neglects one of the fundamental principles that is
204 shared across the political spectrum and widely supported in society: that no child
205 should be left behind. Children, more than any other group, deserve a second chance
206 as well as a third; in fact, as many chances as it takes. No education is ever wasted
207 and no child is a failure: nothing can ever justify society turning its back to a child's
208 education.
209
210 ECOSY - Young European Socialists call on the European Institutions not to give up
211 on Europe's weakest and never to accept the phenomenon of school drop-out, at
212 whichever rate.
213
214 We applaud the Commission's intention to "develop more flexible learning pathways
215 to allow people to move between different education levels and attract non-
216 traditional learners" because ECOSY believes that all barriers to education should be
217 removed, including those put up by rigid education systems. It is therefore
218 disappointing, that the ambition disappears from the later parts of the flagship
219 initiative; even from the second line of action that aims to raise enrolment levels.
220 Furthermore the initiative should build in effective guards against new barriers being
221 thrown up by flexibilization of education systems.
222
223 Initiatives presented under the heading of quality and enrolment levels, while in
224 large majority both laudable and necessary, do little to increase the participation
225 level of European citizens in higher education and VET, especially considering the fact
226 that exchange programmes only benefit those already in education. Mobility actions
227 that would effectively increase participation levels and improve the quality of
228 education include the active targeting of the youngest learners, those in lower levels
229 of education, and those from socially disadvantaged backgrounds, the active
230 inclusion of HEIs and student organizations in the development of instruments that
231 exploit the benefits of students having completed an exchange, more effective

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232 incorporation of exchanges into the general higher education systems and to
233 specifically allow the structural funds to be used for improving the learning and
234 academic infrastructure of member states.
235
236 ECOSY - Young European Socialists suggest exploring the possibilities of funding
237 programmes that allow students to follow their entire curriculum at a foreign higher
238 education institution, which has the added value of being able to alleviate the
239 overburdened universities of some member states by re-directing students to
240 institutions with greater absorption capacity and of avoiding the curriculum
241 compatibility problems inherent in exchanges. This inherently involves looking into
242 greater portability and universality of student grants.
243
244 Instead of towards increased competitiveness through an alternative multi-
245 dimensional global university ranking system, the EU should work towards greater
246 transparency and democracy in education. The state is responsible for the quality of
247 education and therefore should not be the one to rank its performance in the face of
248 global competition. It would be of much greater value to potential students to make
249 the offer of HEIs more transparent by developing an index which provides
250 information, amongst other things, on whether HEIs are predominantly teaching or
251 research oriented, which are their strongest faculties, whether there are tuition fees
252 and if so, how high, their graduation rate/record, the employment rate of their
253 former students, the measures they take to ensure equal opportunities, the teaching
254 methods used, etc. In addition, the EU should go one step further and investigate
255 possible strategies to counter the detrimental effect on higher education accessibility
256 and democratization implicit in the existence and widespread abuse of the traditional
257 higher education ranking systems.
258
259 The democratization of higher education, not just in HEIs but also in the legislative
260 arena, is essential. The best investment in democracy is to allow for its practice on
261 all levels. The education of a generation must involve trust in young people now. Any
262 council recommendation on the reform of education should include an incentive for
263 the consultation of student unions from both higher and vocational education where
264 the proposed legislation and policies concern education.
265
266 Additionally, ECOSY - Young European Socialists point out that in the initiative, young
267 people's empowerment and participation on the national and European level are
268 lacking. We expect a clear message from the Commission that it values the
269 consultation and contribution of young people on the European level, for example
270 through the European Youth Forum, which is working in depth on those matters, as
271 well as through the young Europeans' civil society and the open national consultation
272 processes, the European Students' Union which represents Europe's student
273 population, and of course the European political youth organizations. Our role cannot
274 be restricted to accepting and criticizing; young Europeans deserve to actively
275 participate in the decision-making and policy-formulating processes themselves.
276
277 Next to education, training and mobility, the 2005 European Youth Pact stressed the
278 importance of securing employment, integration and social advancement as well as
279 the reconciliation of family life and working life. While the current proposal of the
280 Youth on the Move flagship initiative connects education to employment, if fails to
281 incorporate all other dimensions.
282
283 ECOSY - Young European Socialists believe that the agenda to improve young
284 people's chances in the knowledge economy through education must go hand in hand
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285 with a legislative process to ensure that jobs and educational placements provide for
286 a decent living.
287
288 ECOSY - Young European Socialists therefore call on the European Parliament, when
289 scrutinizing the EU budgets and financial perspectives, to ensure that the EU
290 programmes involving apprenticeships, traineeships and internships (including the
291 European Voluntary Service) are budgeted in such a way as to effectively allow for
292 the payment of (at least) minimum salaries to the young people that they target. We
293 point out that the lack of payment for apprentice/internships during education,
294 coupled with insufficient public student grants, have often been signalled as a large
295 factor in increasing student drop out. We reiterate that the first places where un- and
296 underpaid internships should be abolished is in the European Institutions themselves.
297 We call upon the organisations belonging to the European socialist family, namely the
298 Party of European Socialists, the S&D group in the European Parliament and its
299 MEPs, as well as their associated organisations to immediately end the employing of
300 un- and underpaid internships.
301
302 ECOSY - Young European Socialists welcome the Commission's ambition to "raise the
303 awareness of citizen's rights when moving within the EU...[and]...simplified
304 procedures for social security coordination taking into account new mobility patterns,
305 reducing obstacles to free movement of workers". Yet, we reject the analysis that
306 special "minimum incomes specifically for young people" can go hand in hand with
307 the avoidance of precariousness and note that the suggestion goes against the
308 specific recommendations of the European Parliament. Rather, such measures imply
309 an increase in precariousness per default.
310
311 ECOSY - Young European Socialists furthermore point out that the proposed fiscal
312 incentive based solutions cannot be the only proposals to overcome precariousness.
313 While both necessary and effective in times of economic downturn and for the
314 emancipation of specific subgroups of youth, we reiterate the need for a long term
315 strategy that will cement the preferred use of permanent contracts with decent
316 working conditions and salaries in legislation. The excessive use of temporary
317 contracts should be excluded through legislative means.
318
319 Education in all its forms and on every level, must provide for a decent living and
320 self-fulfilment. Dreams and ambitions are realized in conditions of security,
321 sustainability includes the population it benefits. ECOSY - Young European Socialists
322 believe Europe should offer that vision, a common project towards the greater well-
323 being of all. Through education, decent work and mobility, we can take a step in that
324 direction. ECOSY - Young European Socialists call for a Youth on the Move
325 programme that puts those three issues at its core.
326

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327 Fight against the European Right!

328 Proposed by: SJÖ Austria, ANIMO, Young Labour, Mladi Forum
329
330 The rise of right wing extremist and populists in Europe entered a new stage with the
331 election effort of the extremist Sverigedemokraterna in Sweden and the entrance of
332 the Partij voor de Vrijheid of Geert Wilders in the new Dutch government. Even in
333 the UK there are now two fascist MEP's and the violent Islamophobic street
334 movement - the EDL (English Defence League) is rapidly growing. Right wing
335 extremism is an increasing problem in most of the European countries. Since the
336 forming of a nationalist International on a European level failed some forces are still
337 struggling to coordinate a common European Right Wing Extremist Politics.
338
339 The Austrian Freedom Party (recently gained 27% in the local elections in Vienna)
340 tries to strengthen her European Cooperations. In October FPÖ called for a come
341 together of the European Right in Vienna. Vlaams Belang (Belgium),
342 Sverigedemokraterna (Sweden), Danske Folkeparti (Denmark), Lega Nord (Italy)
343 and the Slovenská Národna Strana (Slovakia) followed the invitation to a meeting
344 under the title “The future of the European Union after the application of the Lisbon
345 treaty”.
346
347 The meeting ended with an agreement for a better cooperation on a European level
348 and a common initiative for a referendum against the accession of Turkey to the
349 European Union.
350
351 ECOSY-Young European Socialist is concerned about this recent development. It is
352 clear that a campaign against the accession of turkey will mostly have a racist and
353 islamophobic tone. A common right wing extremist’s campaign on the European
354 Level will lead to a strengthening of racist tendencies in the society. Socialists and
355 Social democrats all over Europe have to fight these latest developments.
356 Campaigning against the Far-Right and populist right wing movements must be a key
357 priority of ECOSY - It is not a special interest issue, but a mainstream problem that
358 challenges social democrats and socialists directly
359
360 It is necessary for Social democratic parties all over Europe to reflect about the on
361 going election victories of the far right. It is no solution to overtake and copy the
362 topics of the right. It is necessary to come up with solutions for social problems to
363 fight the roots of racism and fascism. The only way to really fight right wing
364 extremists is to build a society on the Social democratic principles: Freedom, Equality
365 and Solidarity.
366
367 ECOSY - Young European Socialists considers it to be self-evident that socialists and
368 social democrats should not enter into coalition agreements with parties belonging to
369 the extreme right, calls upon all PES member parties to act accordingly. We
370 furthermore call upon all democratic parties across the political spectrum to do
371 likewise.
372
373 Only a strong International of the left can fight the tendencies of the extreme right to
374 form a European Network. ECOSY- Young European Socialists calls for her member
375 organizations to be part of antiracist and antifascist movements all over Europe.
376

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377 Fight (higher) education cut plans in Europe!

378 Proposed by VSStÖ Austria, Animo Belgium, Labour Students UK, SONK Finland
379
380 As a result of the financial and economic crisis EU-member-states have embarked on
381 a programme of budget consolidation. For us, as socialists and social democrats, it
382 must be evident, that cutting means for education can never be the right way to lead
383 a country out of debt. On the contrary, consolidation and redistribution of wealth go
384 hand in hand. Therefore adequate taxation of property, heritance, wealth, high
385 incomes, capital and speculation would be necessary to both consolidate budgets and
386 make our society more just and equal on a long-run perspective.
387
388 Conservatives do not cut spending for education because it would be necessary. They
389 do it because they have an own idea of education. They want private and elite
390 institutions with limited access and without decent living standards for students from
391 the working class and students from less-privileged backgrounds.
392
393 Social democratic parties must never follow that idea. They must be the ones to fight
394 for open access and for universities where no person – whatever socio-economic
395 background s/he comes from – must abandon his or her program due to financial
396 reasons and for education systems where everybody who wants to take part in
397 higher education will be able to do so.
398
399
400 Considering the above mentioned ECOSY – Young European Socialists
401
402 • calls on EU-member-state-governments to provide for a higher education
403 system without any hidden or obvious access restriction, such as tuition fees
404 or knock-out-exams.
405 • calls on all EU member state governments not to cut funding for (higher)
406 education and to rescind planned cuts
407 • calls on mother parties to vote against conservative education cut proposals
408 in the national parliaments
409 • stands in solidarity with students protesting against cuts in higher education
410 in all over Europe.

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411 Workers’ right to strike for better working conditions must be

412 defended
413 Proposed by: SONK & SDY Finland
414
415 Conservative parties have assumed the control of governments all around Europe.
416 Among other things they have been executing right-wing politics in labour markets
417 and introducing tax reforms.
418
419 Some of the reforms introduced by the right-wing parties have aimed at restricting
420 the workers’ right to strike. At the moment workers have been using these rights
421 when striking around Europe. For example, the French workers have opposed the
422 government’s pension reforms. In Finland the postal workers have respectively
423 demanded fairer labour agreements.
424
425 Socialist parties must work together with the trade unions in guaranteeing that the
426 will of the employers does not materialise and weaken the status of the employees.
427 Socialists have fought long and hard for the workers’ rights to be recognised. These
428 rights must be defended. Furthermore, the other European parties should be
429 encouraged to state clearly their stand on the issue of workers’ rights.
430
431 Defending the workers’ right to strike is a priority for ECOSY - Young European
432 Socialists. We must make sure that the fundamental rights of the people are
433 preserved and strongly resist the forces that are trying to debilitate these rights.

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434 ECOSY supports open methods in selecting the PES candidate

435 for the European Commission President
436 Proposed by: SONK, SDY-F, Sinistra Giovanile, FGS Italy, SSU and SSF.
437
438 PES Congress took a decision last December to select a common candidate for the
439 European Commission President prior to next European Parliament elections in 2014.
440 PES Council will decide on the procedure on finding and selecting this common
441 candidate this December in Warsaw.
442
443 ECOSY supports openness and democracy at all levels of decision making and believe
444 that the socialist movement will always have to show the way for the rest. Therefore
445 we wish and encourage PES to open the selection procedure for all the members of
446 the socialist movement and include a possibility for the Primaries to the selection
447 procedures. ECOSY believes it is the only way to move on from the back room deals
448 between few grey men, be them the European leaders or the PES member party
449 leaders.
450
451 We want open democracy, live debate and participatory activism, and we believe
452 that the selection - and campaign - of the candidate for the Commission President
453 would create new enthusiasm and passion for the European project.
454
455

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456 Fight family allowance cuts – Solidarity with student protests

457 in Austria!
458 Proposed by: VSStÖ Austria, SJÖ Austria
459
460 The Austrian great-coalition-proposal for budget-consolidation foresees lowering the
461 age limit for family allowances for austrian students from 26 to 24 – not only leading
462 to an immediate loss of 2.400 Euros per year for about 40.000 students but to
463 further disastrous consequences as eg. the loss of social security, orphan’s pensions
464 and assistance for disabled students.
465
466 From an educational perspective the cut will lead to a higher number of students
467 working during their studies, a higher number of late drop-outs but also to a grant-
468 system in which it is impossible for students in specific programmes (architecture or
469 medical science) or that have not started their programmes at the age of 18 to finish
470 their bachelor and master degree even within the given minimum period of study.
471
472 This proposal goes in line with the conservative model of higher education: private
473 and elite institutions with limited access and without decent living standards for
474 students from the working class and students from less-privileged backgrounds.
475
476 Social democratic parties must never follow that idea. They must be the ones to fight
477 for open access and for universities where no person – whatever socio-economic
478 background s/he comes from – must abandon his or her program due to financial
479 reasons and for education systems where everybody who wants to take part in
480 higher education will be able to do so. In Austria the social democratic members of
481 the government have accepted the proposal – but still the fight within and outside of
482 the social democratic family is not over.
483
484 One year after a number of student protests in all over Europe had its starting point
485 in Vienna students are back in the street again. Not only fighting for free access and
486 proper founding of higher education, but also protesting against the government's
487 cut plans. For us, as socialists and social democrates, it is clear that we can not
488 agree to the plans. The social democratic members in the government have to
489 rethink the plans, stand up against the conservative partner in the coalition and fight
490 for our common values.
491
492 Considering the above mentioned ECOSY – Young European Socialists
493
494 • calls on the Austrian government to withdraw the cut plan for familiy
495 allowance for students.
496 • calls on the Social Democratic Party of Austria not to accept the conservative
497 proposal and to fight for a socialist goal of free and equal access to education
498 and of decent living standards for all students non-regarding the socio-
499 economic background – also and especially in a joint government with the
500 conservative party.
501 • stands in solidarity with students fighting the planned cuts of familiy
502 allowance in Austria.

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503 DECLARATION
504 Proposed by: Societas Hungary
505
506 Whereas the Government led by Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz party has secured a two-thirds
507 majority on Hungary’s last Elections to the Hungarian National Assembly, and has
508 subsequently formed the so-called “Government of National Cooperation”,
509
510 And whereas it has become apparent during the course of the past months that
511 Viktor Orbán’s government seems to disregard both ethical norms accepted
512 throughout Europe, but also decisions taken by the supreme guardian of the
513 country’s democratic institution, the Constitutional Court,
514
515 And whereas most recently the so-called “Government of National Cooperation” has
516 taken unilateral, non-consulted steps towards squandering pension savings, has
517 conducted a political cleansing throughout the public administration, has initiated the
518 unilateral change of the Law on Higher Education, and has systematically reduced
519 the freedom of press by taking gradual restrictive measures,
520
521 We, young socialists, social democrats and labour youth, hereby declare that we find
522 the Hungarian governments actions unacceptable, which fall far short of European
523 norms of behaviour. We also express our concern of the possible future of the
524 millions of young people in Hungary, whose pension savings will now be used to
525 temporarily fill in the gaps in the National Budget, while no real actions will be taken
526 to curb the growing deficit.
527
528 We can still remember a time, when a young Viktor Orbán was one of the most
529 prominent fighters for democracy, and for freedom. Conversely, it is now him, whose
530 government has taken systematic actions for reducing democracy and freedom in his
531 country, and gravely reducing the opportunities of today’s youth in Hungary.
532
533 In response to the recent actions taken by Viktor Orbán’s government, we hereby
534 remind them of their Oath of Office, that they shall “be loyal to the Homeland, and to
535 the People of the Republic of Hungary”, and that they “shall uphold and preserve the
536 Constitution and other Laws”. We also remind them of Paragraph 2, section 3 of the
537 Constitution of the Republic of Hungary that “No activity of any person may be
538 directed at the forcible acquisition or exercise of public power, nor at the exclusive
539 possession of such power. Everyone has the right and obligation to resist such
540 activities in such ways as permitted by law.”
541

16

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ECOSY Bureau Meeting

Brussels, Belgium 26th – 28th November 2010

RESOLUTIONS AND DECLARATIONS

RESOLUTIONS AND DECLARATIONS

ECOSY Bureau Meeting

ECOSY Bureau Meeting

ECOSY Bureau Meeting

180 Resolution on the Youth on the Move initiative

ECOSY Bureau Meeting

ECOSY Bureau Meeting

327 Fight against the European Right!

ECOSY Bureau Meeting

377 Fight (higher) education cut plans in Europe!

ECOSY Bureau Meeting

411 Workers’ right to strike for better working conditions must be

ECOSY Bureau Meeting

434 ECOSY supports open methods in selecting the PES candidate

ECOSY Bureau Meeting

456 Fight family allowance cuts – Solidarity with student protests

ECOSY Bureau Meeting

ECOSY Bureau Meeting

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