The Green Deal was “too ideological” and must be rethought to emphasize “competition”, believes EPP Secretary General Thanasis Bakolas.
The European People’s Party (EPP) will not seek to reach a formal agreement with the radical right and the far right. The secretary general of the center-right party assures that the EPP will not wish, following the European electionsto get closer to the Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, and her group in the European Parliament: the European Conservatives and Reformists (CRE), neither to re-elect Ursula von der Leyen, nor to support a majority in the next legislature.
According to projections, the Christian Democrats won 186 seats, far ahead of the 135 seats obtained by the Socialists and Democrats (S&D) group and the 79 seats of the liberal Renew Europe group.
“The EPP will seek to form a majority in the European Parliament with friends and allies we have already worked with, with the socialists, the liberals and, we hope, the Greens. And the numbers are there for such a majority, and that’s a good thing“, assures Thanasis Bakolas.
The Secretary General of the EPP adds that when it comes to “major legislation, we will turn to MEPs who are ready to listen to us and vote for us“. This cooperation will depend on the pro-European, pro-rule of law and pro-Ukraine choice of radical right MEPs, he explains, echoing the main criteria that the president of the current European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, established during his campaign.
“Giorgia Meloni’s MEPs might want to vote for us. And I think that would be great. But I don’t see any institutional or more formal agreement beyond that“, he continues.
Asked whether this rapprochement, even on a case-by-case basis, could help normalize nationalist policies, Thanasis Bakolas welcomes Giorgia Meloni’s approach to European policy.
The Italian Prime Minister is a leader”highly appreciated and respected within the (European) Council, not only with the EPP leaders, but also with other leaders. She is very constructive. She works well in the Council and it is important for Europe, because she comes from a big country, Italy. It is a fact“, summarizes the general secretary of the EPP.
“At this stage, Giorgia Meloni is a very constructive actress on the European scene“.
A possible alliance between the EPP and CRE has fueled speculation about the future majority in the European Parliament. Ursula von der Leyen was repeatedly asked whether she would accept or reject Giorgia Meloni’s votes, each time giving a more explicit answernamely that she would accept them.
But when the provisional results became official on Sunday evening, the EPP lead changed his tune and reached out to the socialists and liberals to build a strong centrist majority for the next five years – without any mention of Giorgia Meloni.
“The center is holding on“, said Ursula von der Leyen.
The outgoing president also refused to say whether the Greens, who went from 71 to 53 MEPs, would be part of this pro-European majority, simply noting that her priority would be the S&D and Renew and that the door remained “opened” for others.
During his interview with Euronews, Thanasis Bakolas spoke of the Greens as possible partners for a grand coalition that can “going in the long term and which can also grow“.
“The sanitary cordon will hold“, he predicts.
The Green Deal is not dead
The 27 leaders are due to meet on June 17 and June 27 to discuss the distribution of major EU posts, where Ursula von der Leyen’s candidacy for re-election will be put on the table. If she is appointed head of the European Commission for five more years, she will have to submit to a confirmation vote in the European Parliament. She must obtain at least 361 votes in her favor. In 2019, she only passed the threshold with a nine-vote lead.
While approval from leaders appears guaranteed, the path to Parliament will be “delicate and difficult“, admits Thanasis Bakolas. Ursula von der Leyen’s Green Deal has attracted the wrath of certain elected representatives of the EPP, notably Republicans in Francewho accuse the German official of having kissed “degrowth policies promoted by the left“.
“The work must be done politically to motivate our MEPs to follow the line desired by the leaders. It is very important, in my opinion, that Parliament acts strategically and very politically, because this is the only way to maintain a centrist coalition“, underlines the Secretary General of the EPP.
“We’re a big party, we’re a big tent“, he adds. “We must do the right thing“.
The increasingly harsh rhetoric of the EPP against the Green Deal, summed up in the fierce battle to bring down the nature restoration law, has infuriated progressives, who say conservatives want to pause — or even reverse — efforts to achieve climate neutrality. Some of the claims used by the EPP to challenge this regulation have been described as disinformation by NGOs.
“As a political party we want the Green Deal to succeed and that is what citizens want“, assures Thanasis Bakolas. “We are not climate deniers“.
“But I think there was a collective failure, in a sense, with regard to the Green Deal, because it was too ideological. And we, within the EPP, also have a responsibility because we have allowed it to be ideologically oriented“.
According to Thanasis Bakolas, the missing piece is “the competition angle“.
His comments on theideology“environmental issues resemble the arguments that Giorgia Meloni and her nationalist and far-right allies use to denounce the EU’s climate policy. In its manifesto, the CRE party undertakes to reverse several aspects of the text.