A coalition of centre-left parties is being launched today and will contest the European parliamentary elections this June.
Parties within the group include Social Democracy of Poland (SdPL), Social Democratic Left (DPL), the Democratic Party and Green 2004. The Labour Party has yet to decide whether to join the group. The coalition does not include the leading left wing party in Poland, the Democratic Left Alliance.
The group will be led by MEP Dariusz Rosati, a former foreign minister in the 1990s and ex-member of the Monetary Policy Council in Poland.
“The current leftwing parties have lost the shine they had from the days when they could command 40 percent of the popular vote,” said Rosati today, at the launch of the new “movement”.
A similar coalition of leftwing parties - but which did include SLD - gained just 13 percent of the popular vote in the 2007 general election. (pg)