He has been leading the Socialists and Democrats group in the European Parliament since 2019 and one of the most tense moments for Iratxe García (Baracaldo, 1974) was in November, when the offensive of Alberto Núñez Feijóo’s PP against Teresa Ribera and the decision of Ursula von der Leyen to make the candidate of the far-right Giorgia Meloni, Rafaele Fitto, vice president of the European Commission, pushed the coalition of popular, socialist and liberal people who ‘govern’ the EU. After a delay of a week, everything went as planned and now the leader of the PSOE minimizes that situation. What he does send is a warning to the European People’s Party, which has broken the cordon sanitaire to the extreme right and, in just four months, has relied on these groups to carry out initiatives, distancing itself from its pro-European allies: “If it plays doubles majorities, there may be a total blockage of European decisions.”
Do you trust the European People’s Party after the maneuver against Teresa Ribera?
It is not a question of trust or confidence. We need to work with pro-European political groups. Obviously, the negotiation has not been easy, it has had very complex moments and has been on the verge of breaking up. But we must put above this situation the need for Europe to continue seeking spaces for cooperation and understanding.
At some point did Manfred Weber [líder del Partido Popular Europeo] Did he convey a real intention to overthrow Ribera or was the message he gave him one of tranquility?
The second thing. Weber’s position was that we needed the College of Commissioners and he knew perfectly well that overthrowing Teresa Ribera meant reopening the entire process and prolonging the interim period of a European Commission that was no longer working. Therefore, wanting a College of Commissioners was not compatible with reopening the entire procedure to overthrow the first vice president.
Everything exploded due to a call from Feijóo to Manfred Weber. Do you fear that the war of attrition against Ribera will be the tone of the entire legislature by the European People’s Party?
The European People’s Party as a whole wants this to start working and I know that the general tone of the European People’s Party is not to enter into this guerrilla war and the introduction of national issues at the European level. I have spoken to many Members of the European People’s Group and I know from them that what happened during the College of Commissioners process was not something that was fully supported by the group as a whole.
Has Von der Leyen disappointed you? In the Weber-Von der Leyen binomial she was the moderate and in the end she was the one who put Meloni’s candidate in the vice presidency.
From the beginning we warned him that this was a very difficult issue for us to accept. It is a decision that she has made and we are not satisfied with that decision. She gives some reasons and arguments that have more to do with the weight of Italy, and not about what the political family is. That has also entailed a cost: if we see the votes that she had as president of the European Commission and the votes that the College of Commissioners has had, obviously that lower support in the College of Commissioners has a lot to do with that decision.
Why did you finally decide to support Fitto [el candidato de Meloni]? Was it an exchange of cards with Ribera or were there other reasons?
More than supporting Fitto, we decided to exercise responsibility to make it possible for Europe to have a government at a really important time. We are in a very complex geopolitical situation with a new Administration that will take office in January in the United States, where Trump is questioning the concept of transatlantic relations, with a war in Ukraine, a war conflict in the Middle East, a trade war with China… The last thing Europe can allow at this time is a situation of power vacuum and we were aware of how important the approval of this College of Commissioners as a whole was. In any case, this is not the end, this is the beginning. And now we will follow up on everything that is the performance of the College of Commissioners.
In the end, the European People’s Party has an alternative majority. Wouldn’t it have been time to hit the table with the negotiation of the College of Commissioners?
Any knock on the table that comes with not having a College of Commissioners does not benefit anyone, not even our group. But above all and most importantly it does not benefit Europe as a whole. And the numerical reality is what it is: the Popular Party has a double majority, but the group of Socialists and Democrats does not have a majority to counterbalance that. The current composition of the Chamber is not the same as the last legislature, which we could create new majorities with the Renew group [liberales]the greens and The Left [La Izquierda].
In July Fitto’s name was not on the table. Do you feel like they took a gamble in July when Von der Leyen was re-elected? Now in retrospect, do you think they should have put red lines then?
In July we worked on political priorities, asking President Von der Leyen for the strategic lines of the European Commission. It was not a debate about names but about policies for people. The social democratic group cannot change governments and Meloni’s put on the table a name of someone who is known in this Parliament and we have stated on many occasions that the problem we had as a political group was not the person. They could have given another name that would be more difficult for us to accept. In this case, the problem was not the person, nor even the portfolio, it was putting someone who is not part of that ‘Von der Leyen majority’ as executive vice president, at the same level as popular liberals and social democrats.
Do you think that Pedro Sánchez has been weakened in this negotiation due to the fact that there has been talk of corruption, of DANA…?
Not at all. The debate at the European level and in the different countries has not been the same as the national debate. I am sure that the exercise of responsibility that we have all assumed so that there is a European Government as soon as possible has been taken into account. This attack by the Spanish Popular Party and the European People’s Party on the figure of Pedro Sánchez has to do with the fact that today Pedro Sánchez has become the beacon of European social democracy and they have sought a formula to attack that figure. But on the contrary, what it has done is strengthen it further in the field of social democracy. It is an example throughout Europe of how a left-wing government can make policies that benefit the people.
There are 14 EPP governments, five liberal and only four socialist, while the extreme right is growing a lot throughout the continent. What diagnosis do you make of this situation?
The extreme right and populists feed on inequality and a strategy of fake newsthrough the search for scapegoats, hatred, and confronting societies. We are very aware that that is emerging. The way we will have to respond is that Europe can really implement policies that eliminate these inequalities and that generate certainty for citizens. That is why negotiations do not have to focus only on people but on policies. It is no coincidence that we have achieved in the negotiation, for example, that there is a housing commissioner and that a special commission on housing in Europe is created to start working on European policies in this matter.
The election of the College of Commissioners is not the end, it is the beginning. And now we will keep track of everything that is his performance.
What are your priorities for this mandate?
Number one is to consolidate the progress we have made in the past five years in different areas such as the Green Agenda, the European Social Pillar, women’s rights, the implementation of the Migration Pact… We cannot allow the reduction of the ambitions of what has been achieved and the objective is to continue advancing in the green agenda, in the social agenda, in the rule of law and the defense of our democracies in a world at a time much more complex than the one we had five years ago.
Is maintaining ambition possible now that the PP has an alternative majority with the extreme right and that the PP itself is trying to reverse some of the decisions of the last legislature?
That is a responsibility that the European People’s Party has. It has the responsibility to contribute to Europe continuing to advance and Europe cannot advance with an alliance of the Popular Party with the extreme right, because the extreme right does not want to advance in European decisions. I do not see the extreme right voting for a Multiannual Financial Framework, legislation on the rule of law and, therefore, what the European People’s Party may find in a moment of play of these double majorities is that there is a blockage total of European decisions.
What do you think of the position that many European countries are taking with the new situation in Syria? The first reaction has been to paralyze the asylum processes.
We are completely against that decision. Europe has to comply with the right of asylum and international legislation. Double standards are unacceptable. It is unacceptable that there is now an attempt to suspend the right of asylum for Syrian people, with the conflict in Ukraine we decided appropriately to open our arms to Ukrainian refugees. What we cannot now is, based on skin color or religion, take other criteria.
How do you think the European Union has to face Trump’s return to the White House?
Proposing leadership and strength in European unity and trying to continue with open doors. It is necessary and important to have good transatlantic relations, but that cannot mean that Trump plays with the change of policies that until now have been the reality. We will be very attentive to the decisions made on your part.
In the case of China, Spain is playing a enabling role in trying to attract investments while positions against China are hardening in Brussels. What do you think the relationship should be?
We have to have an open relationship, of dialogue and cooperation, obviously defending European values and the transformations that China has to make in the field of social policies, environmental policies, policies of defense of the values that we share, but being demanding. . This is not the time to close the doors to cooperation, but to be demanding about what that cooperation and relationship should be like.
You have lived with Puigdemont in Brussels. Will there be Budgets?
I am convinced that there will be budgets.
We are at the beginning of the mandate, but halfway through there will be changes. The Presidency of the European Parliament must be changed and there would also have to be changes in the Socialist Group. Will you be the President of the European Parliament for the second half of the term?
Right now I am busy thinking about how we are going to work these two and a half years to guarantee that Europe makes the policies it needs to make for its citizens.
But is it negotiated within the Socialist Group?
Obviously there are negotiations with other political groups and there are agreements at the mandate level, but what we have to see is whether those negotiations that were initially held are going to continue in two and a half years. There are different possibilities, different majorities. A lot can happen in two and a half years.
#Iratxe #García #European #Peoples #Party #plays #double #majorities #total #blockade
