Tobias Cremer, a German social democratic lawmaker in the European Parliament, said the announcement was spurred by the poor results in the regional elections, and showed the party was serious about delivering “on the bread and butter issues.”
“It’s about economic growth, it is social justice, but it’s also [about] reforming our economy in a way that it’s for us to determine how we work, not for the White House, not for the Kremlin, not for China,” he added.
The Trump bump
One unlikely boost for Europe’s center left has come from U.S. President Donald Trump, whose provocations have helped mobilize some voters.
MEP Cremer said Denmark’s Social Democrats, who have been in power since 2019, would likely have suffered an even worse defeat in the election had it not been for the voter sympathy generated by Frederiksen’s refusal to give in to Trump’s threats to annex Greenland.
“Our comrades in Denmark did an outstanding job, they actually moved up in a lot of surveys from a much harder position they were in,” he said. “If you have been in government … for years, it’s very often that you are in a difficult situation, and they have already shown that, by standing up to Trump, but also in the domestic policy area, they manage to catch up quite a lot.”
But Europe’s center left knows it can’t base its entire platform on anti-MAGA messaging. The way forward, some argue, is to follow the example set by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez. He stands out as the leader of one of the only social democratic parties that remains popular among voters — in part because it has taken a firm stand on progressive issues and on governing with partners on the far left of the political spectrum.