2023-05-17 15:08:00
The European People’s Party is trying to maintain its power in the EU institutions with the involvement of right-wing conservative parties. A balancing act.
For some, it’s a no-go: CSU leader Markus Söder doesn’t think much of plans to integrate right-wing extremist and right-wing national parties into the European People’s Party (EPP). “Otherwise the difficulties in delimitation would be extremely great in many countries,” argued the Bavarian Prime Minister on the sidelines of an EPP meeting in Munich. For his CSU party colleague and EPP leader Manfred Weber, however, that should be the way out to preserve the EPP’s importance in the EU power game. In France and Italy, EPP members Les Républicains and Forza Italia face marginalization. It takes new forces to compensate.
For months, Weber has been trying to find out which right-wing parties accept the rule of law and the EU to such an extent that they can be considered future partners of the European People’s Party. Since 1999, the EPP has dominated the European elections and the European Parliament as the strongest group. And in his opinion, that should remain the case after the election in spring 2024, despite the expected losses. He is counting on an increase in the political forces that have so far been anchored in the group of European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR). Because there are not only groups like the Polish ruling party, PiS, which is trying to undermine the rule of law and undermine EU jurisprudence. There are also more moderate parties in the ECR – with currently 66 MEPs – or those who at least try to present themselves that way. For example the Czech ODS, which became too pro-European for the former party founder and later President Václav Klaus. Party leader Petr Fiala has gained a reputation as a pragmatist, above all thanks to the successful Czech EU Council Presidency in 2022. Some – not only Weber – would like to see him in the EPP.
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