European social democracy is in the doldrums and the members of the continent’s centre-left think that a major change at the top of the Party of European Socialists is the solution.

After a rout of the centre-left in last year’s European elections, activists with the centre-left Party of European Socialists (PES) have launched a campaign to push for US-style primary elections within the party to select their candidate for the presidency of the next European Commission in 2014.

Frustrated with the failure of the PES to nominate any candidate at all ahead of the June 2009 elections, a pair of long-time activists have rolled out a movement that is proposing that the members of the various social democratic parties across Europe vote to choose who the party will nominate as its presidential candidate.

The Campaign for a PES Primary was kicked off on 26 July by Desmond O’Toole, a member of the Irish Labour Party’s Central Council, and Jose Reis Santos, a Lisbon city councillor, and, according to the pair, has met with a “huge response.”

Its Facebook group has 570 members and is growing at a rate of about 200 a week. The pair has also set up a Twitter feed to promote the campaign, although Mr O’Toole was keen to stress: “It’s not just a few kids playing around with some Facebook group. This is serious.”

“Even in the middle of August, we are pleasantly surprised at how this is growing,” he told EUobserver, adding that the idea will really take off in September when people return from their summer holidays.

The pair also argues that such a move will go a long way to counter the bloc’s infamous “democratic deficit.”