EU’s hard right scrambling to stay relevant in election campaign

7 months ago 33

Dear readers,

Welcome to EU Elections Decoded, your essential guide for staying up to date and receiving exclusive insights about the upcoming EU elections. This is Max Griera, writing from Brussels. Subscribe here.

In today’s edition

Feeling the heat of the looming campaign season, Europe’s conservatives are ready to embrace the Spitzenkandidat system.
Bits of the week: Von der Leyen controversy in Riga; Sánchez accused of campaigning for European Council president post.
In case you missed it: New Eurobarometer data; Hungary’s new political leader surges in polls but fails to weaken Orbán; Macron prepping up new grand speech on Europe; EU sets up crisis task force to counter Russian interference; Viral deep fakes of Le Pen; Europe’s Trumpists deploy series of rallies to fight against Brussels’ “wokeism” and protect national sovereignty.; Greens eye written agreements with Von der Leyen.

With less than two months before June’s EU elections, the hard right ECR party – possibly seeing the electoral train passing them by – has woken up and is edging closer towards appointing their own Spitzenkandidat, a concept they previously rejected.

All main European political parties have laid down their vision for the next five years with grand congresses and a frenzy of manifestos, while media, including Euractiv, have widely started trying to decipher what may happen after the elections.

But in this cacophony of political messages, one official voice was missing: Where are the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR)? What will be their priorities?

Feeling the pressure of the upcoming campaign, the ECR now seems ready to embrace the electoral ways they had previously rejected.

“Next week, maybe we will have a Spitzenkandidat,” ECR group co-chair Nicola Procaccini told Euractiv on the sidelines of the now infamous NatCon conference, also confirming that the party is preparing its “manifesto.”

Despite having initially rejected the idea of having a Spitzenkandidat and a manifesto, the conservatives are about to decide whether to put forward their own candidate for the Commission presidency during a party meeting in Rome next week Wednesday.

“The problem is that if we don’t have a Spitzenkandidat, it seems that you are in favour of another Spitzenkandidat of another party, another group. So this is why I think we will have a lead candidate, to be clear that we have an agenda, we have a vision, and we want to achieve our goals,” Procaccini added.

While these two elements are not needed to campaign at the national level, they are essential to stay relevant in the debates in the Brussels bubble.

Firstly, a Spitzenkandidat would give the ECR a voice in debates with other candidates and, more importantly, a token to play the usual top-job horse-trading game.

Secondly, a manifesto laying down what ECR – expected to be one of the top parties in the next European Parliament – wants in the next five years, would give clarity to the other political parties and other bubble stakeholders ahead of the coalition negotiations and legislative debates that will come after the June election.

The decision to greenlight these two elements has taken longer than expected and has been delayed several times due to a rift within the party.

While some national delegations wanted to be part of a constructive European electoral debate, some other far-right sections preferred to stay away.

With the issue now seemingly resolved, the question is: Who could be the lucky to become ECR’s Spitzenkandidat?

Bits of the week

Students forced to attend Von der Leyen rally controversy. Controversy broke out in Latvia on Monday (15 April) after a leaked email from the Riga Stradins University administration stated that attendance was mandatory at a lecture given by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, organised in the framework of her campaigning for the EU elections with Latvia’s Unity (EPP). In the same email, the administration hinted that attendance would be linked to better grades and better prospects at scoring scholarships. The lecture was ultimately cancelled and von der Leyen met with the university’s student self-governing body.

Sánchez for the European Council president post? Spain’s opposition centre-right party Partido Popular (EPP) accused Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez of campaigning to get appointed president of the European Council, following his European tour to convince his counterparts to recognise the state of Palestine. “What Sanchez is doing is not a campaign for the Palestinian state but an electoral campaign to become president of the European Council,” Esteban González Pons, EPP vice-president, told Spanish media.

In a separate development, with Catalonia’s regional election looming on 10 May, Carles Puigdemont, running to be Catalan president again, may decide to withdraw support for Sánchez if the Socialist party does not support his bid, thereby toppling the government.

In case you missed it

Eurobarometer: Citizens increasingly interested in EU elections, prioritise defence. Europeans citizens have a growing interest in EU elections, a more positive outlook on the European Parliament than ever before, and speak favourably of enhanced EU defence policy, the latest figures from Eurobarometer, released on Wednesday (17 April), reveal.

Magyar scores three seats but fails to weaken Orbán: EU election projection. Hungary’s rising political star and Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s main challenger, Peter Magyar, is projected to take three seats in the upcoming European elections but failing to weaken the ruling Fidesz party, according to Europe Elects’ latest projections for Euractiv.

Viral deepfake videos of Le Pen family reminder that content moderation is still not up to par ahead of EU elections. Deepfakes of young women allegedly members of the Le Pen family promoting French far-right parties went viral online, escalating the debate around the effectiveness of content moderation ahead of the EU elections in June.

Europe’s Trumpists warm up for EU elections with series of rallies. Leading Eurosceptics are ready to shake up June’s EU election campaign with three rallies where they will vow to protect national sovereignty against Brussels’ bureaucracy and “wokeism”.

Greens eye EU Parliament’s ruling majority, written commitments, safe Green Deal. The Greens want to team up with other pro-European forces after the June elections and join the ruling majority in the European Parliament, not excluding a written agreement to prevent the watering down of the Green Deal, which faces strong criticism from businesses and conservative parties.

‘Sorbonne II’: Is Macron preparing a new speech on Europe? Euractiv has been told that French President Emmanuel Macron’s team has a promising strategy to boost the EU electoral campaign: delivering a large-scale speech during the final plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg. However, the details remain undisclosed.

EU activates crisis response corps to fight Russian interference. EU leaders decided on Wednesday (17 April) to launch a temporary crisis task force to centralise the monitoring and sharing of information on Russia’s attempts to interfere in June’s European elections, eyeing a permanent system after that.

If you’d like to contact me for tips, comments, and/or feedback, drop me a line at max.griera@euractiv.com

[Edited by Zoran Radosavljevic]