EPP Chairman Manfred Weber was nominated by the conservative Christian Social Union (CSU), a German regional party, as the lead candidate for the 2024 EU elections on Monday.
Following his unanimous nomination by the CSU leadership, Weber highlighted the elections as a pivotal moment in the face of expected losses for centrist parties and a shift towards the right.
“This European election marks the choice of our destiny,” Weber told reporters, emphasising the challenge of maintaining a functional pro-European majority.
Weber identified economic strength and migration as key themes in what he promised would be a campaign focused on Bavaria’s interests as his party is up against strong regional competition. “Choosing the CSU means choosing Bavaria, making Bavaria strong in Brussels,” he asserted.
Weber claimed that the CSU had swayed the EPP to vote against the EU-wide combustion engine ban from 2035, which, he argued, was harming Bavaria’s strong automotive industry.
The CSU is the Bavarian sister party of the CDU, with which it forms Germany’s largest opposition party group in the Bundestag.
The CSU has long dominated politics in the regional state of Bavaria but has come under pressure from right-leaning parties such as the AfD and the Free Voters. It fell again short of an outright majority at the regional elections last month, with its rivals on the right gaining almost 10% collectively.
Thus, the party has much to prove in the upcoming election, as does its leader, Bavaria’s Prime Minister Markus Söder, who is eyeing a run for chancellor in 2025.
The CSU was treating EU elections like general elections, Söder claimed on Monday, adding that the CSU was placing its hopes on Weber, who would be the campaign’s focal point given his European standing.
The CSU list will also include current MEPs Angelika Niebler, Christian Doleschal, Monika Hohlmeier, and Markus Ferber in prominent positions.
It would be Weber’s second time as the party’s top candidate. He previously topped the list at the last election in 2019 when he was the EPP’s candidate for the Commission presidency.
While the EPP came out on top, Weber failed to secure the necessary support among national governments, so the post went to his CDU colleague Ursula von der Leyen.
This time, Weber precluded a run but raised eyebrows in Brussels when he proposed EU Parliament President Roberta Metsola as the EPP’s candidate earlier this year. He backpedalled later, saying von der Leyen was the frontrunner.
Von der Leyen also has the avowed support of CDU leader Friedrich Merz if she decides to run again. The Commission President is still holding off on announcing her candidacy for strategic reasons, with the CDU being expected to schedule the conference to confirm her nomination for a time around five to seven weeks before the election, Euractiv understands.
Meanwhile, Weber’s official confirmation is slated for the CSU party congress on 25 November.
(Nick Alipour | Euractiv.de)
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