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There is also new language on the need to fight the far right on the first page of the 10 page document, compared to an earlierJanuary draft.

Socialist parties and leaders from across Europe will gather on Friday and Saturday in Rome to endorse EU Jobs Commissioner Nicolas Schmit as the face of their election campaign, and officially support the manifesto. Schmit will face incumbent Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who will be endorsed as lead EPP candidate next week.

The Socialists manifesto is light on new policy proposals but doubles down on core social democratic tenets, such as battling the cost of living crisis, securing better protections for workers and making the climate transition fairer for citizens. The manifestos lack of ambitious ideas is perhaps a tacit acknowledgment that those socialistfundamentals are under threat, as the center of political gravity in Europe shifts to the right. Polls predict a far-right surge in the next European Parliament.

The Party of Euroepan Socialists points toanother document,agreed by national member parties in November, as being a more detail policy agenda.

The Socialists are set to lose seats, according toPOLITICOs Poll of Polls, but will remain the second-largest faction in Parliament, behind the EPP. That means its likely the Socialists will have to find a way to work with the EPP, and possibly the liberals too.

During the campaign, the PES is expected to accuse the conservatives of enabling the normalization of far-right parties, for example in Italy, and will seek to exploit the policy gulf between the EPPs leader in Parliament, Manfred Weber, and von der Leyen, who staked her legacy on many of the proposals Weber is now seeking to undo,such as the Green Deal.

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Socialists ramp up attacks on conservatives and liberals in EU election manifesto - POLITICO Europe