Socialists and Democrats Group in the European Parliament

Our latest S&D Times is out. On the agenda for next week: 🇬🇱 President Iratxe Garcia and Christel Schaldemose on mission to Greenland 🇺🇦 preparing the first-ever Progressive Summit 🕯️ commemorating the victims of the Novi Sad tragedy

Congratulations to Andrzej Poczobut and Mzia Amaglobeli, jailed journalists from Belarus and Georgia, on winning this year's Sakharov Prize. Journalism is the foundation of every open, free, and democratic society. May this prize also shed light on the fate of Journalists and Humanitarian Aid Workers in Palestine and all conflict zones - our S&D candidates for the prize. We look forward to welcoming their representatives during the award ceremony in December. The European Parliament’s Sakharov Prize has been awarded every year since 1988 to people or organisations working to defend democracy, freedom, and human rights. The prize is named after Russian political dissident Andrei Sakharov, a tireless advocate for human rights under Soviet repression.

Our forests needed this. Nature as a whole needed this. But the conservatives - and their climate denying friends on the far-right - just voted to scrap Europe’s forest-monitoring tools, leaving us blind in the face of devastating wildfires and climate change. Forest-monitoring tools are essential for tracking changes in forest health, helping detect deforestation, drought stress, biodiversity loss and wildfire risks in real time. We’ll keep defending the European Green Deal.

From the PES Congress in Amsterdam, our president Iratxe García Pérez: 🗣️ We work for a Europe of freedom, equality & diversity, not walls or hate. Security through jobs, housing & justice. We won’t give up. This is our mission. This is our Europe. 🇪🇺🌹✊

👏 👏 👏 Party of European Socialists on adopting ambitious resolutions today in Amsterdam. Together for a fairer, more sustainable future for Europe!

Next week we’re in Strasbourg for the 2️⃣nd #Eplenary of this month. On the agenda: 🇪🇺Commission Work Programme 2026 🇭🇺 Allegations of espionage by the Hungarian Government within the EU institutions 🏆2025 Sakharov Prize More 👇

New parliament term, same commitment to social justice, climate action and defending European democracy. As the PES Congress kicks off in Amsterdam, see the progress we’ve made in Parliament so far this mandate.

We want an MFF that boosts cohesion and solidarity. That's why we call for: ❌ No national/regional plans  ✅ A dedicated budget for housing ✅ A strengthened ESF+ ✅ A clear agriculture budget line Our message to Ursula von der Leyen on the future 🇪🇺budget 👇

S&D MEP and European Parliament rapporteur Christel Schaldemose worked hard to secure stronger online protection for children across the entire digital environment – and she did it! Today the European Parliament's Committee on Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO) adopted the own-initiative report on Protection of minors online.   The report calls for banning the most harmful addictive design for minors, of loot-boxes and dark patterns. It also calls to only use the most accurate, effective, reliable, robust, non-intrusive, privacy-preserving (e.g. zero knowledge proof protocols) and non-discriminatory age assurance mechanisms and to ensure that they do not incentivise the development of technologies that rely on the surveillance of users. We need to establish a harmonised European framework to protect equally all children online across the EU.  

The EU needs a health policy reset. Our new position paper, Health as a Priority Across All Areas, calls for a complete overhaul of the EU’s fragmented approach to health. We need health mainstreaming: embedding health and wellbeing into every EU policy, from environment and food to labour and innovation. Because how we live, work, eat, and the pollution we face all shape our health! As our VP Christophe Clergeau puts it: “Health is a fundamental right for all citizens, and the EU must defend it.” Among the 60+ proposals are a new Health Policy Coordination Board, a Health Risk Assessment framework, and strong EU action on tobacco, cardiovascular diseases, mental health, and women’s health. Now is the time for a bold, united European approach. One that prioritises prevention, accessibility, and quality care for all. 💪🇪🇺