Postcard from Strasbourg
Cher Grégoire,
The state of the union? On life support. Well at least the union between the EPP’s Manfred Weber and the Socialists’ Iraxte Garcia seems to be heading for a messy divorce, as the exchanges between the two leaders become ever more vitriolic and personal. Ursula von der Leyen’s pledge to work with all pro-European democratic forces was still reverberating around the Chamber when Manfred Weber launched into a tirade against the “irresponsible” Socialists for splitting the centrist platform with their rejection of the US trade deal. If Garcia wasn’t already reaching for the smelling salts she certainly was when he then compared Danish Socialist Prime Minister, Mette Frederiksen, with her “sensible” stance on migration and competitiveness, with Garcia’s pal, Spain’s Pedro Sanchez. “Two sides of Socialist reality”, he added provocatively. Garcia went as red as her Gaza-protest dress. Now you see who is responsible for the centrist platform nose-diving, she hit back, not Ursula trying her best to rally the pro-European centre, but that *** Weber.
Von der Leyen had in fact gone out of her way to placate the Socialists. Tough on Israel, tick; end poverty, tick; tackle housing crisis, tick; quality jobs, tick. Renew were also offered some tasty concessions, with tough talk on the rule of law and support for ending unanimity on foreign policy. Even the Greens were impressed, with Bas Eickhout welcoming the changed tone of her speech – “you stepped up”. However, there was a sense that these were risk free concessions that could be generously offered without much chance of them getting off the ground in Council. It was a safe bet that threatening to stop the trade part of the EU-Israel Association would never fly in Council and Renew’s call for treaty reform is just not on the agenda. The greater risk was that it would infuriate her own party and there were jeers from EPP ranks when she announced the Gaza measures and the surprise initiative on small affordable electric vehicles, which was not the message the German car industry was expecting.
The speech was big on geopolitics, and von der Leyen was channelling her inner Zelensky with wartime rhetoric that Europe was in a fight for its very survival. Was that a khaki jacket she was wearing rather than her trademark pink? It certainly wasn’t a green one as the pledge to “stay the course” on the Green Deal fell flat when she failed to defend the 90% climate target for 2040 or slow down the number of Omnibus - or should that be Omnitrain? - initiatives. For all her focus on Russia, Israel and the US (but hardly a word on China), she depicted a very inward-looking Europe, that would protect its industry and slap Made in Europe on everything from food to AI. With two more censure motions tabled next month by the left and right extremes, it may well be the fight for her own future that is at stake. How long can von der Leyen, and the Commission as a whole, survive the constant barrage of criticism coming not just from the extremes but the very groups that voted her in?
The dire situation in Gaza had dominated much of the week and it was with much relief that Parliament finally managed to adopt a resolution that could muster a majority. It contained many of the measures von der Leyen had called for in her speech, but to get at least some of the EPP on board it stopped short of calling the situation in Gaza a “genocide” or a “man-made famine”. Even then, over 50 EPP Members, mainly German, voted against, and there were a large number of abstentions.
The week ended with more controversy over the far-right’s request for a minute’s silence for the slain MAGA influencer Charlie Kirk. President Metsola rejected the request on the grounds that these commemorations happened at the start of the plenary and Monday evening’s remembrance list had already included the Lisbon funicular tragedy, victims of wildfires, the assassination of the former Chair of the Ukrainian parliament and all the victims of violence and terror in the Middle East and Gaza. Needless to say, the far-right were not impressed or convinced and the AfD have now nominated Kirk for the Sakharov Prize for freedom of thought. All that’s missing now is Donald Trump, or Kirk’s pall bearer JD Vance, to intervene and accuse Parliament of suppressing freedom of speech.
Amitiés,
Richard