Euro elections|The EBU’s big Euro election test was muted, because it took place without the far-right.
Brussels
Continuation Applicant under the management of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen the Italian Prime Minister keeps the door open for cooperation by Giorgia Meloni with the Italian Brothers party led by
Cooperation between the center parties and the far-right has become one of the central themes of the European elections, and in the election exam held in Brussels on Thursday, von der Leyen had to answer many questions about the conditions under which the center-right EPP, which he represents, agrees to cooperate with the far-right groups.
Von der Leyen repeated his old message that only parties that are on the side of Europe, Ukraine and the rule of law are suitable for cooperation. According to him, as prime minister, Meloni has shown that he is at least on the side of Europe and Ukraine.
However, he denied that he was already directly preparing for cooperation with Melon.
“I first want to see what the parliamentary groups will be like, and then we’ll see who we work with.”
Melon leads the conservative and nationalist ECR group in the parliament, which includes basic Finns from Finland.
The composition of the groups in the European Parliament is not established, but typically after the elections some of the parties change groups. Speculations about the composition of future groups are now running hot. One speculation is that Meloni would try to lure Hungary Viktor Orbán led Fidesz party to the ECR. However, this would complicate Melon’s chances of getting into power, as Orbán has undermined Hungary’s democracy and opposed Ukraine’s support measures.
The French National Alliance (RN) and the Alternative for Germany party (AfD) were completely excluded from cooperation by von der Leyen. These parties sit in the second right-wing group in the European Parliament, ID.
“These parties are united by the fact that they are Putin’s friends and want to destroy Europe, and we will not agree to that,” von der Leyen said.
Cooperation there were very few questions about the conditions that led to a decent discussion or got decent answers in Thursday’s exam. The exam, organized by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), meandered smoothly from topic to topic without ever getting into a proper debate. The answers to the questions were mostly slogans.
To a large extent, this was due to the fact that the real opposition, i.e. the far-right groups ECR and ID, were not represented in the exam at all.
It was a so-called top candidate cast, i.e. the candidates nominated by the European parties for the position of president of the Commission were on stage. Far-right groups are against the procedure, as they believe that the selection of the commission president should be in the hands of the national governments. Since the groups have not nominated an official top candidate, they were also unable to participate in the exam.
In addition to von der Leyen, socialists participated in the exam Nicolas Schmittof the greens Terry Reintkethe liberals Sandro Gozi and the left Walter Baier. Challenging and opposing in the exam was largely Baier’s task, as all the other candidates represented parties whose legislation has been passed through the parliament this term. However, the actual government-opposition division in the European Parliament is not known.
So the ECR and the ID were not there to challenge when Schmit of the Socialists accused them of being undemocratic forces. And when all the candidates on stage stood in support of the continuation of the ambitious climate policy, ECR and ID were not there to justify why they demanded a complete change of climate policy.
For the same reason, immigration, which is one of the hottest issues during the elections in many member states, was quickly bypassed. The other candidates did not even challenge von der Leyen for the fact that his party EPP wants the EU to move the asylum search outside the borders of the Union, following the British model. Von der Leyen himself did not raise the proposal in the discussion.
Socialists However, Schmit criticized the migration agreement the Commission made with Tunisia last summer. With the agreement, the EU commits to invest in Tunisia, which in turn limits the passage of migrants from Africa to Europe. Schmit said that in Tunisia, migrants are pushed back into the desert and beaten.
“This is a deal with a particularly crooked dictator,” Schmit said.
Luxembourgish Schmit is himself the EU’s Commissioner for Employment and Social Affairs and, as a member of the college, was involved in approving the Tunisia Agreement.
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