EPP chief slams border controls within the EU

Several EU countries, including Germany and Italy, have recently introduced temporary border controls to curb irregular migration in a blow to the Schengen area, but EU centre-right (EPP) leader Manfred Weber has limited faith in it and believes that protecting the EU’s external borders is the only way European countries can reduce migration permanently, he said on Saturday.

European People’s Party (EPP) members, such as Weber’s own party, the centre-right CDU/CSU, have also vocally called for new checks, prompting the EPP boss to remind his party of the importance of a long-term European answer to increasing migration.

The ongoing conflict in the Middle East has also accelerated the border control trend amid concerns that it could lead to a surge in refugees from Palestine.

“I want to give you a question to think about if we seriously believe that reintroducing border controls will be the solution,” Weber said, speaking at the annual conference of the CDU/CSU youth wing.

“I have limited faith in it, to say the least,” he acknowledged.

While he endorsed temporary checks, Weber demanded that EU countries should ultimately “secure our [external] borders and the freedom of movement within Europe”.

The conference was European-themed, but the party’s intense focus on migration and locking heads with Germany’s centre-left coalition government became apparent in the speeches preceding Weber’s.

Markus Söder, the leader of the CSU, the Bavarian wing of the party group, urged the government to adopt an even tighter internal border regime, while Friedrich Merz, the national leader, focused on the coalition’s supposedly hesitant approach to migration.

Radio silence on Europe

Despite being the two favourites to become the CDU/CSU joint candidate for the chancellorship in 2025, neither Merz nor Söder has spelt out a more concrete doctrine regarding European and foreign policy so far.

The CDU/CSU is currently in the pole position in the race for the chancellery, as it increased its lead in national polls after two recent victories in regional elections.

The silence of the national party on European matters is all the more surprising as it holds a tight grip on the control room of European power. Aside from Weber as the head of the largest party group in the European Parliament, this includes CDU member and Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who also attended the conference.

Von der Leyen also highlighted the need for closer integration in response to the dominant problems in world politics.

“When it’s about the big challenges, the best answer is our European community,” she declared in her speech on Sunday.

Ultimately, Weber said, the CDU/CSU would need to do more than complain about the government’s European policies, calling on the party to develop “a clear idea of the Europe of tomorrow and ask to be elected on that mandate.”

(Nick Alipour | Euractiv.de)