EPP eyes socialists, liberals for pro-EU coalition as Breton questions von der Leyen

The centre-right European People’s Party (EPP) eyes a pro-EU, pro-centrist coalition with the socialists and liberals after the EU elections in June, an EPP source told Euractiv, adding that the Greens are not on their radar, while cooperation with some parties on the right who want to distance themselves from extreme rhetoric, is not ruled out.

On Thursday (7 March), delegates at the EPP congress in Bucharest officially elected EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to become the party’s lead candidate for June’s European Parliament election.

According to the secret ballot vote results, 89 members voted against von der Leyen.

An EPP source who attended the congress in Bucharest told Euractiv that the French and Slovenian delegations voted against them while they “suspect” that a part of Spain’s Partido Popular also opposed her due to her perceived personal ties with socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.

When asked about the post-election political environment, the source said the EPP will seek a pro-centrist, pro-EU coalition with forces such as the socialists and liberals, although there are some disagreements on policy files.

“The Greens seem to turn left because of their worsening performance in polls,” the source said, adding that their unpragmatic approach to the Green Deal implementation poses challenges for collaboration.

According to the latest projections from poll aggregator Europe Elects, the EPP, socialists, and liberals will form a 403-member majority in the next Parliament. Von der Leyen will need to be approved by leaders of the EU27 and then by a vote in Parliament.

However, French President Emmanuel Macron has said nothing about von der Leyen’s candidacy so far while his commissioner in the EU, Thierry Breton, openly questioned if von der Leyen had full support of the EPP.

“The real question now: Is it possible to (re)entrust the management of Europe to the EPP for 5 more years, or 25 years in a row? The EPP itself does not seem to believe in its candidate,” Breton posted on X.

Von der Leyen and EPP chief Manfred Weber have also left the door open for collaboration with some right-wing parties. In an interview with Euractiv earlier this week, EPP Secretary General Thanasis Bakolas said his party will look at the “healthy” elements on the right.

“We need to look at who these political elements are and help them distinguish themselves from the far right”, he said.

“Indeed, there will be some healthy elements”, the EPP source admitted, saying there can be collaboration in specific policies based on “pragmatism”.

Meloni, Orbán in the spotlight

Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán recently stated that his Fidesz party seeks to join the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group—presided over by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni—after the EU elections in June.

While Poland’s PiS, a member of the group, is open to the idea, others, such as the Czech conservatives, have rejected the idea.

Referring to Bakolas’ remark on “healthy elements”, Giacomo Filibeck, the PES secretary general, lashed out against the EPP stance, saying this “cherry-picking” approach was not helpful for the EU integration project.

“The ECR has people like Santiago Abascal (Spain’s Vox), who has been calling to hang Pedro Sánchez from his feet, [they] have Éric Zemmour – the new acquisition – who has been condemned for instigation to racial hate or PiS from Poland that has been opposing women’s right to abortion”, he told Euractiv.

“If some parties leave the ECR because Orbán will join, will they still be considered far right?”, the EPP source wondered.

“We are not talking about these parties joining the EPP, but distancing themselves from the far right and voting pragmatically with a pro-EU coalition shouldn’t be ruled out”, the source added.

The source also denied that there are talks of Meloni’s Brothers of Italy joining the EPP.

“Meloni represents a category herself […] Italy is a founding member of the EU and G7 member. Joining the EPP will also have an impact on the internal political balances of the EU centre right family considering that is projected to get many MEPs and this should not be disregarded”, the source said, adding that this wouldn’t be seen in positive light by the German right wing parties.

(Sarantis Michalopoulos | Euractiv.com)