EU(TOP)-NOTCH ELECTION INSIDER
26.04.2024
ECR adopts election programme, but refrains from nominating a lead candidate
23.04.2024: The European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) have unanimously adopted their election manifesto in Strasbourg. The party also decided not to nominate its own lead candidate for President of the European Commission. The Conservatives drew up a ten-point list of priorities at their meeting. The most important points:
With the decision not to put forward a lead candidate, the ECR wants to send a signal against the controversial nomination system for the office of Commission President: The party is thus adhering to the content of the European treaties - which state that it is the "prerogative of the Council" to appoint the President of the EU Commission.
?
EPP wants to appoint Agriculture Commissioner
24.04.2024: The European People's Party (EPP) wants to appoint the next Commissioner for Agriculture. Group Chairman Manfred Weber emphasised this at the EPP Group's last press conference before the European elections: If the Parliament's largest group were to prevail with this goal, the next Agriculture Commissioner would devote his full attention to the "Green Deal".
However, Weber qualified that the new "Green Deal 2.0" would have to differ significantly from the current "Green Deal", which the current Polish Commissioner for Agriculture Wojciechowski (PiS/EKR) also firmly rejects. The EPP therefore not only wants to realise environmental goals with the "Green Deal 2.0", but also "combine it with economic and social issues". For Weber, one thing is certain: the next "deal" for the European Union will be an economic one in order to preserve industry and jobs in Europe.
?
Teresa Ribera to be the Spanish Socialists' lead candidate
24.04.2024: The ruling Spanish Socialists (PSOE) have named Teresa Ribera, Minister for Ecological Transition, as their lead candidate for the European elections. This means she is also likely to be Spain's candidate for the EU Commission.
Ribera recently led the European delegation at the climate conference in Dubai (COP28) alongside EU Climate Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra. According to party insiders, she would therefore be the ideal candidate as Vice-President of the Commission, who could be responsible for implementing the "Green Deal".
?
BSW wants its own parliamentary group
23.04.2024: The Das Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW) does not want to join an existing parliamentary group after the European elections. Instead, it will ally itself with parties that correspond to its own programmatic priorities. According to lead candidate Fabio De Masi, BSW is already in talks with potential partners from the left and right of the party spectrum. Although the alliance represents some rather left-wing positions (e.g. disarmament, redistribution), it is also in favour of limiting migration and asylum procedures and against increased European integration.
Election forecasts expect the BSW to win seven seats in the new parliament. However, 23 MEPs from seven EU countries are required to form a parliamentary group.
?
Doubts about von der Leyen's re-election are growing
26.04.2024: The current President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, is also the leading candidate of her party, the EPP, as the future number one in Brussels. Nevertheless, her second term as Commission President is currently anything but certain. The other parties, but also parts of her EPP group, are constantly bringing new potential successors into play. Among the alternatives repeatedly mentioned are the Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovi? and the Maltese President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola.
Italian newspapers are also reporting that Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni could throw Mario Draghi's name into the ring if the heads of government in the European Council have to agree on a joint proposal for the post of Commission President after the election. Meloni wants to prevent Germany, France and Poland from beating her to the post with a joint alternative candidate. One thing is clear: if the EPP remains the strongest political force, it will continue to claim the presidency of the EU Commission for itself.
MEMBER STATES IN THE SPOTLIGHT
领英推荐
Italy: Forza Italia and Partito Democratico choose their top candidates
Antonio Tajani, leader of Forza Italia (EPP), will lead the party in the election campaign. The former EU Commissioner and ex-President of the European Parliament will head the list in four of the five Italian constituencies. Tajani was officially confirmed as party leader of Forza Italia following the death of party founder and former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in February 2024. The 70-year-old is currently Foreign Minister. However, it is unclear whether he will return to Brussels. So far, Tajani has only stated that he wants to make his European experience available during the election campaign.
Partito Democratico (S&D) has selected four top candidates for the various constituencies: party leader Elly Schlein will head the list in two of the five constituencies. In the remaining three constituencies, Cecilia Strada, Stefano Bonaccini and Lucia Annunziata are in first place.
?
Portugal: Alianca Democratica and the Partido Socialista put forward candidates
The Democratic Alliance (AD, EPP/ECR) presented its candidates for the European elections on 22.04.2024. The alliance consists of PSd (EPP), CDS-PP (EPP) and PPM (ECR). Sebasti?o Bugalho is in first place on the list, followed by Paulo Cunha, Ana Miguel Pedro (parliamentary assistant to former MEP Nuno Melo), Hélder Sousa e Silva, Lídia Pereira (current MEP and Vice-Chair of the EPP Group), Sérgio Humberto, Paulo Nascimento Cabral, Carla Rodrigues and Rubina Leal.
The Partido Socialista (PS, S&D) has only new names on its electoral list: The lead candidate is former health minister Marta Temido. She is followed by MP Francisco Assis and former Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Ana Catarina Mendes. Other newcomers also occupy the remaining places on the list. This means that none of the previous MEPs from the Portuguese Socialist Party will return to Parliament after the elections.
?
France: Macron calls for joint armament
French President Emmanuel Macron has used drastic words to call on Europe to significantly increase its defence efforts. "We must realise that our Europe could die," warned the head of state in a keynote speech at the Sorbonne in Paris. The European Union is at a turning point and must do more to compete with its rapidly arming global rivals, he said.
Macron announced that France would play an important role in this military strengthening: His country's nuclear deterrent was "an unavoidable element of the defence of the European continent" in this regard. Macron's appearance at the elite university was a follow-up to a speech he gave at the same venue in 2017: Back then, he outlined a vision of "European sovereignty" and "strategic autonomy". Among other things, Macron proposed a common budget for the euro countries and a common EU defence budget.
?
Spain: PSOE: Sánchez is considering his resignation
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez (PSOE, S&D) is publicly considering resigning. He justified this step with a controversial corruption complaint against his wife Bego?a Gómez. The complaint was filed by the organisation Manos Limpias, which has been fighting for conservative causes for years. Their accusation: Gómez is exploiting her position as the head of government's wife to do her own business.
Sánchez criticised the accusations against his wife in an emotional open letter: "I need to stop and think. I urgently need to answer the question of whether this is worth it, despite the quagmire in which the right and the extreme right are trying to play politics. Whether I should continue to head the government or step down from this high honour." Sánchez announced that he would announce his decision on 29.04.2024.
Meanwhile, Spanish media report that the public prosecutor's office in Madrid has requested that the preliminary investigation against Gómez be closed. The final decision now lies with the competent investigating judge.
?
Germany: Krah remains AFD top candidate, but no longer involved in the election campaign
The espionage affair involving a close associate has serious political consequences for Maximilian Krah, the top candidate of the Alternative für Deutschland (AFD / ID): The party decided that Krah should largely stay out of the European election campaign. Krah will not take part in the campaign kick-off in Donaueschingen and will no longer appear on campaign videos or posters.
It had previously become known on 23.04.2024 that the police had arrested a Chinese employee of Krah's office: Jian G. is suspected of spying for China. The AFD party chairmen Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla then summoned Krah to a crisis meeting on 24.04.2024.
Despite his removal, Krah remains the top candidate: the AFD can no longer remove him from the electoral list retrospectively, as the Federal Election Commissioner has already given its final approval. Krah is also suspected, like his party colleague Petr Bystron (list position 2), of having received funds of Russian origin in order to advocate pro-Kremlin positions. Krah and Bystron have repeatedly denied these allegations.
#EUTOP?#EUElections?#EU?#EuropeanUnion?#EuropeanPolitics?#Politics?#Newsletter?#StayInformed?#EUInsights