As a result, the PES congress will tiptoe around the issue.
“Migrants are increasingly criminalized and used as a scapegoat for social and economic hardships and to justify discriminatory policies,” reads the sole reference to the topic in the final declaration of the congress, obtained by POLITICO and set to be voted on Friday. A Social Policy program, to be approved the same day, mentions the need to ensure “the protection of migrants, asylum seekers and undocumented people.”
Migration is not mentioned in a document setting out the party’s priorities and campaign talking points for the years to come, also obtained by POLITICO, and there are no scheduled debates on the topic.
Even those relatively minor mentions of the protection of undocumented migrants raise questions about the unity of the party, as the Danish Socialists have prioritized establishing a tough deportation scheme during their EU Council presidency, which began in July and runs to the end of December. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen will not be at the PES jamboree.
Instead of addressing migration, the Socialists are turning to their traditional core subjects — health care, job creation, affordable housing and renewable energy — as the core of their campaign program, according to their priorities for the years to come, to be voted on by party delegates on Friday.
Taking on Trump
During the past five years, the center left has seen its support slump across European countries and its number of EU lawmakers fall, with a right-wing bloc in command of the European Parliament and most members of the College of Commissioners hailing from the center right.