Malta Business Review EP ELECTIONS: EXCLUSIVE SOCIALISTS’ ELECTION DILEMMA: STICK OR TWIST By Florian Eder and Maia De La Baume Prime Minister of Malta Joseph Muscat | John Phillips/Getty Images for Global Citizen Party mulls whether to remain on the same course or be open to an alliance that could include Macron. Power or ideology, that's the choice facing Europe's Socialists. There's a debate raging among Socialist leaders about their approach to May's European Parliament election. Should they stick to their guns and fight an uphill battle — the polls put them in second place, well behind the conservative European People's Party — or open themselves up to potential alliances with other forces, including Emmanuel Macron's En Marche, even if they don't agree on everything? It's a problem that national center-left parties across Europe also face, as they struggle to cope with their traditional conservative rivals as well as upstarts from across the political spectrum. Judging by this weekend's Party of European Socialists' election congress in Madrid, the problem is far from being solved. Malta's Prime Minister Joseph Muscat told POLITICO that his European allies must plan for a center-left powergrab after the election — but also that he fears his advice would be ignored. There is a chance, Muscat said, that a center-left majority can be formed in the next European Parliament. For that to happen, "we need a coalition of progressive forces from [left-wing Greek PM Alexis] Tsipras to Macron. I totally subscribe to that point of view," he said, adding: "Will that sort of coalition be reliable, [will it] have enough numbers and a cohesive program? I honestly don't know right now. But that's definitely my preferred option." "Some would say it's a leap for the Socialists to be talking about potential partners when they should be simply trying to survive However, Muscat advised against taking a "more radical approach." Following pure Socialist doctrine "works when you don't [have to] take decisions. It doesn't work when you are in government. And I'm not too sure that it works in order to take the government," Muscat said. With just three months to go until the election, time is not on the center left's side, and neither are the numbers. Katarina Barley, German justice minister and her Social Democratic Party's lead candidate for the EU election, told POLITICO "we’ll have to stretch ourselves" to win, and is worried about the impact of losing the British Labour MEPs as a result of Brexit. The EPP doesn't have the same problem since the British Conservative Party is part of the European Conservatives and Reformists group. Still, Barley added that "the interest is huge" among voters, "and that is very encouraging, I can feel it everywhere. The events are full. There’s awareness." More than social justice Muscat has been in office for six years as head of a Labour government. His recipe to get into power, and stay there, is to embrace, don't fight, capitalism; don't be shy to tackle migration; and strike alliances with other political forces, even if they are only partly likeminded. "Bringing about social justice is not fighting market forces but trying to harness the market forces," he said. "I think so much time is wasted in us saying ... how we will distribute wealth, when the first issue is how to create 10
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