Weber caves under Polish pressure, accepts nominee for EPP vice-head

5 months ago 40

Under pressure from Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s Civic Platform party, EPP President Manfred Weber approved the nomination of Polish MEP Andrzej Halicki as EPP vice-president despite having previously opposed it on the grounds of gender parity.

The EPP’s Polish delegation, made up of Tusk’s Civic Platform (PO), the agrarian Polish People’s Party (PSL) and a few independents, had 16 MEPs in the 2019 European Parliament.

After the European elections earlier this month, the number rose to 23, making the party’s delegation the second largest in the EPP group. This result gave the PO the keys to nominate a strong candidate for the position of vice president of the group.

But Halicki’s nomination faced opposition from Weber, who, for the sake of gender parity, preferred to nominate a woman instead, Polish private RMF FM radio reported on Tuesday morning, citing its Brussels sources.

Weber had even proposed former prime minister and now MEP Ewa Kopacz as a nominee, the private radio station also reported.

On her part, Kopacz was surprised and told Weber in a letter that she was not interested in the position and reminded him that Halick was the Polish nominee and that Weber had to “respect that decision”, RMF FM added.

“It is being unofficially said in the Polish delegation that Weber waged a war against it,” the media outlet continued.

Officially, Weber’s argument was that the party statutes obliged him to have a sufficient number of women in the leadership of the parliamentary group, hence Kopacz’s name.

On the other hand, RMF FM reports that, according to their source, it was actually Weber’s political game against the Polish delegation, which began to implement its demands as its representation in the party grew.

Weber backs out

Euractiv Poland’s source close to the EPP and familiar with the issue confirmed RMF FM‘s report, adding that “it was indeed true for maybe 10 hours”. The source said Weber had finally bowed to the Polish delegation’s demand and accepted Halicki as EPP vice-president.

“So fast are things running in the European Parliament,” the source summed up.

“I am the only Polish candidate on the list for the EPP leadership,” Halicki then confirmed to the RMF FM.

Both Halicki and Kopacz have been MEPs since 2019. Between 2014 and 2015, Halicki was a minister for administration and digital affairs in Kopacz’s government.

So far, Germans have held most of the EPP’s key posts in the European Parliament. They chaired four out of nine committees and had eight out of 21 coordinators. According to Polish media, the German CDU’s unwillingness to share power with Poland has prompted Weber to propose another candidate for the group’s vice-presidency, put forward by Warsaw.

Halicki added that the Polish delegation in the EPP wants to get the chairmanships of “at least” two European Parliament committees and some coordinator posts.

(Aleksandra Krzysztoszek | Euractiv.pl)