Defence joins migration in EU centre-right manifesto

More than 300 ideas were presented by EPP members in the process of drafting the manifesto, which serves as an orientation roadmap for the next five years for the party — and especially for von der Leyen.

With the far-right expected to make big gains at the June European elections, the EPP has taken a hardline on asylum policy while shying away from what in 2019 was von der Leyen’s main project: the Green Deal.

“The rise of the far-right is a given, we all know it,” an EPP official at the two-day party congress in Bucharest said, pointing out that the centre-right party will almost certainly remain the largest group in the parliament, having leverage to influence the policy agenda.

“We are not sticking to cliches…We try to offer concrete policies to the European people,” the official said.

The conservatives are calling for a new commissioner dedicated to defence matters and the role of the high representative to be strengthened as an EU foreign minister — a proposal which did not find enough support in the past.

“The goal of the defence commissioner is to make sure that all armies of member states are well-equipped, can operate together and combine efforts — and that our armies can defend us in case of any threats or dangers,” EPP vice-president MEP Siegfried Muresan told EUobserver.

Building on the ideas behind the first-ever defence strategy and investment programme presented this week, the Romanian lawmaker also said that one of EPP’s priorities is to complete a single market for defence and make purchases of weapons more efficient.

In addition, the manifesto includes a controversial proposal to offshore asylum to countries outside the EU and have annual EU quotas for people in need of protection — proposals which have already raised eyebrows of certain EPP delegations.

New Green Deal phase

During the next “phase of implementation” of the Green Deal, the centre-right EPP is emphasising the need to foster competition in European industries, cut red tape and support SMEs.

Following the example of the US, they are calling for a “Made in Europe 2030” plan and a competitiveness strategy.

“Electric cars need to be produced in Europe, not in China,” EPP Manfred Weber told a press conference in Bucharest.

The manifesto also pledges to develop the European Green Deal “by a better consideration of the interests of consumers and farmers” in the next policy agenda, in the wake of a series of recent farmers’ protests.

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In this context, it mentions the failed proposal on cutting pesticides in the EU as an example and calls for a review of Natura 2000 legislation — as an alternative to the controversial nature restoration law, which has been adopted despite the opposition of the EPP in the EU Parliament.

“We have agreed on many pieces of legislation. Implementing them means that we are committed to the Green Deal,” said Muresan.

“We want to implement the decisions that were made in a way in which the economy and the industry can support [the transition] and be part of the solution,” he added.

Von der Leyen’s own domestic party, Germany’s Christian Democrats, also wanted to see the ban on combustion engines from 2035 dropped — but the EPP manifesto does not specifically mention this issue. It makes a soft reference to technological neutrality instead.

“We need more technology — not bans,” reads the manifesto when referring to mobility, but the same idea is also repeated in the chapter on agriculture policy.

The EPP manifesto reflects the party’s efforts to portray itself as the champion of farmers and rural interests by, for example, advocating to increase direct payments for farmers to secure basic incomes and protect them against volatile markets.

But it also includes proposals that are contrary to farmers’ protest demands, mainly intensifying trade relations with Latin America.

French conservatives reject von der Leyen

Meanwhile, French conservatives have announced that they will oppose von der Leyen’s re-election bid, as they see her as the candidate of liberal president Emmanuel Macron.

But she has been backed by key party leaders such as Polish prime minister Donald Tusk and Greece’s Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

“We stand behind von der Leyen,” Weber said.