German MEP Manfred Weber said that the integration of war-torn Ukraine into the European Union is a priority after the election on Tuesday of the presidency of the European People’s Party, the pro-European right, which is facing difficulties.
The only candidate to succeed former European Council President Donald Tusk is called upon to carry out the difficult task of restoring the EPP’s influence after the deafening defeats of the traditional right in France and Germany.
“The first message we have to send at the moment (…) is that yes, you will be able to join the EU,” Weber said after his election at the EPP congress in Rotterdam, in the south-west of the Netherlands. present Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, who finally received permission to leave Ukraine to attend the conference.
“The EPP supports the status of candidate countries for our Ukrainian friends as well as for Moldova,” he added.
Kyiv does not hide its disappointment with the fact that some EU countries refuse to speed up the accession process after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24. The European Commission is considering approving Ukraine as a candidate country in June.
Weber noted that the next priority is for the EPP to regain the position of the strongest political party in Europe, as right-wing parties are suffering one defeat after another in the European Union.
“To be honest, we are not at the best moment in our history,” said Weber, a member of the Christian Social Union (CSU) in Bavaria.
The EPP admits that the result of the May presidential election in France was disastrous, as the right-wing candidate Valerie Pekres received less than 5%.
This political faction lost its leading form after Angela Merkel left the German chancellery. Its major components – the Christian Union (CDU / CSU) in Germany, the People’s Party (PP) in Spain, Forza Italia, the Republicans in France – are now all in opposition.
The EPP counts only 7 leaders at the table of the European Council, representing the 27 (Greece, Austria, Cyprus, Romania, Croatia, Lithuania, Latvia) and although it remains the largest political force in the EP, it is obliged to seek consensus with them. Socialists and the Liberals of Renew.
Manfred Weber, 49, from Bavaria, was elected to the EP in 2004 for the first time at the age of 29, and has been the leader of the EPP since 2014.
The EPP remains the largest party in the European Parliament in terms of the number of seats, which theoretically allowed it to assume the presidency of the European Commission in 2019. But French President Emanuel Macron erased this ambition of Weber, in favor of his assignment. former German Defense Minister Ursula von der Layen.
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