As members of the European Parliament gathered in Strasbourg for the final plenary session before the June elections, Euronews asked the presidents of the main political groups to reflect on the highs and lows of the last five mandates.
Manfred Weber – European People’s Party (EPP)
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Asked to discuss the greatest success of the mandate, the president of the center-right EPP group highlighted the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“ The greatest achievement has certainly been to restart the European economic engine after the coronavirus crisis. The Recovery and Resilience Facility was certainly the most important decision of this mandate “, he explained, recalling the EU’s record €723.8 billion temporary recovery instrument.
Manfred Weber also cited the measures taken to combat climate change among his main strengths, despite the recent negative reaction from his party against the Green Deal.
It is therefore not surprising that the biggest failure of Parliament, according to the German elected official, was its decision not to maintain the so-called Spitzenkandidaten process, according to which each party presents a main candidate to present its candidacy for the presidency of the European Commission. Manfred Weber himself was passed over by EU leaders in his bid for the presidency of the EU executive in 2019, in favor of Ursula von der Leyen despite not officially running.
“ We (parliament) made a big mistake by not supporting the idea of Spitzenkandidaten, the idea of having a democratic Europe where citizens would know who the candidate would be before going to the elections “, he explained, criticizing his coalition partners for not supporting the idea.
Iratxe García Pérez – Socialists and Democrats (S&D)
For the president of the Socialists, the mandate is too rich in successes to select one. “ It was a very intense, exceptional and extraordinary legislature she responded, citing Brexit, post-pandemic recovery and the EU response to the war in Ukraine among key achievements.
“ We have been able to address all these challenges while maintaining (focusing on) Europe’s priorities: promoting the green agenda, the rule of law and all policies necessary to maintain the European social pillar. »
She also hailed the EU’s first law to combat violence against women, approved on Wednesday, as a momentous achievement, despite its lack of provisions on rape after rejection by Member States.
Asked about the mandate’s weak points, Iratxe García Pérez denounced the EU’s failure to conclude the Nature Restoration Law, the EU’s plan to reverse biodiversity loss on at least 20% of EU lands and seas by the end of the decade. The bill is currently on the verge of collapse as member states withdraw their support.
Philippe Lamberts – The Greens
The co-president of the Greens group, who said goodbye to the hemicycle on Wednesday after 15 years as an MEP, told Euronews that he was very proud of the parliament’s achievements in developing the Green Deal, which, according to him, were “ the first stages of the EU transition trying to fulfill (…) our part in realizing the limits of the planet “.
“ It’s far from over, despite what many say “, he added, clearly winking at the right-wing groups in parliament.
The first of two failures from Lamberts’ point of view was the new budgetary rules, designed to return to tighter tax controls after laxer rules following the pandemic, which were approved this week. He described the new standards as a “ tax straitjacket » which will make the Green Deal and support for Ukraine « financially impossible “.
He also rejected the pact on asylum and migrationthe in-depth overhaul of the EU’s migration and asylum policy, which, according to him, ” won’t solve anything “.
Nicola Procaccini – European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR)
The co-chair of the conservative-national right group CRE hailed Parliament’s response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as one of the greatest achievements of the mandate.
“ At that moment, the European Union understood the danger “, he explained, welcoming the sanctions packages against Russia and the unprecedented donations of economic and military aid from the Union.
He added that if the EU had not fully supported the Ukrainian people, the EU would have risked triggering a series of events that could have ” set the whole of Europe on fire “.
For Nicola Procaccini, developing the Green Deal “ without interacting with people » which he touches was Parliament’s greatest error. In his manifesto adopted on Tuesdayits CRE group is committed to “ overthrow the Green Deal “.
Marco Zanni – Identity and democracy (ID)
For the far-right group, the biggest victory of the mandate was to have put its priorities on the agenda of Parliament, even though it is a ” minority group », Declared its president to Euronews.
ADVERTISEMENTMarco Zanni cited immigration, “ protection » farmers and a “ more pragmatic approach » of the Green Deal among the questions he had raised.
“In short, we managed to change the agenda of parliament,” he said.
He stressed that the work of Parliament included “ many problems and failures ”, but designated the “ sanitary cordon » long-standing, the firewall designed to prevent the far right from exerting any influence, as its greatest undoing.
“ It is a shame that some people still think that some (parties) should be excluded just because they have different ideas “, he explained.
