Migration and Green Deal
Conservatives are curbing von der Leyen
March 6, 2024, 6:35 p.m
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In order to support the conservative EU party EPP in the upcoming European elections, EU Commission President von der Leyen must make some U-turns. In their election manifesto, the EPP are calling for more severity towards refugees and more leniency towards farmers.
Three months before the European elections, the European People’s Party is writing a more conservative course for the top of the EU Commission into the books of its designated top candidate Ursula von der Leyen. The party alliance around the CDU and CSU wants to adopt an election program at the party conference in Bucharest that would significantly limit von der Leyen’s scope for action in climate protection and migration policy in the event of a second term in office in Brussels.
EPP leader Manfred Weber said in Bucharest: “Ursula von der Leyen is our top candidate, and all programmatic positions of the European People’s Party are shared by Ursula von der Leyen.” This of course also applies to the European election manifesto. However, the 23-page text entitled “Our Europe, a safe and good home for the people” contains a number of program points that differ significantly from von der Leyen’s policy at the head of the Commission since the end of 2019.
The conservative party alliance is keeping a distance, especially from von der Leyen’s flagship project “Green Deal”. The CDU politician wants to make the EU climate-neutral by 2050 – which has earned her the accusation of being too close to the Greens. The EPP election manifesto states that the Green Deal should not restrict the competitiveness of European companies and should not endanger agriculture.
Asylum procedures in “safe third countries”
In the European Parliament, under the impression of the farmers’ protests, the conservatives recently voted several times against the EU Commission’s bills. Due to a lack of support, von der Leyen was forced to withdraw proposals for fewer pesticides.
When it comes to migration policy, the EPP is also pushing for a much tougher approach for the next five-year legislature after the European elections from June 6th to 9th. Europe must regain “control over migration,” the manifesto says, alluding to the more than one million asylum applications that were counted last year in the 27 EU countries, Norway and Switzerland.
The EPP election program bears the CDU’s signature in a passage on asylum procedures in “safe third countries”. “Anyone who applies for asylum in the EU could also be transferred to a safe third country and undergo the asylum procedure there,” says the election program, similar to the draft of the new CDU policy program. “If the outcome is positive, the safe third country will grant the applicant protection on site,” writes the EPP.
French Republicans do not vote for von der Leyen
This is a significant tightening compared to the asylum pact, which the EU only agreed to in December after years of debate. This includes asylum procedures at the external borders for the first time, but not in third countries such as Rwanda or Georgia, as the CDU has in mind. Many politicians doubt whether the latter would be legally covered. Representatives of the left-wing camp in particular see a closeness to ideas of “remigration” such as those represented by the German AfD.
EPP leader Weber rejects such allegations. “There is a clear firewall for us against all right-wing radicals on the continent,” he wrote on X at the start of the Bucharest party conference. Von der Leyen had previously drawn criticism for not ruling out future collaboration with forces to the right of the conservatives.
At the end of the party congress, around 2,000 delegates want to elect von der Leyen as their top candidate on Thursday. She competes without competition. Weber expects an “overwhelming majority”. Only the French Republicans of former President Nicolas Sarkozy have announced that they will not vote for the German. The 65-year-old stands for “technocratic excesses that harm our farmers and opening the borders to migrants,” criticized Republican leader Eric Ciotti on Franceinfo radio. However, his party only represents eight of the 178 EPP MEPs in the European Parliament.
After the European elections, the EU heads of state and government must agree on who will head the Commission, after which Parliament will vote. Even if the EPP becomes the strongest force as predicted, von der Leyen will not automatically receive the position.