Photo by Dan Meyers on Unsplash
The European People’s Party (EPP) has been accused of “drifting to the far right and dismantling the Green Deal.”
The allegation is made by the European Green Party which goes on to claim that the manifesto adopted by the EPP congress in Romania “confirms this worrying trend.”
The EPP reportedly backs Ursula von der Leyen as its candidate for the presidency of the European Commission.
But the European Green Party go on to say that the “EPP manifesto, on which von der Leyen will run, is a U-turn on climate and environmental policy.”
European Green Party co-chairs Mélanie Vogel and Thomas Waitz, in a statement, said, “The EPP manifesto promises to abdicate responsibility by stating: “Engineers, not politicians, together with the market should be deciding on the best technology in order to achieve carbon neutrality.”
Waitz said: “This is the U-turn of Ursula von der Leyen. Her party, the EPP, now officially withdraws from taking any political responsibility or ambition in climate protection.”
“They shy away from it, and hand it over ‘the market’. In the face of this cowardice, we Greens are showing the necessary courage to take political responsibility. While the EPP turns a blind eye to the life-threatening climate crisis, the Greens have and will continue to take action to protect people from it.”
The Greens statement said, “The EPP manifesto adopts policies from the far right: it proposes deporting people to third countries for asylum processing, taking inspiration from the UK’s disgraceful ‘Rwanda deal’.
Vogel adds: “The EPP pretends that this is their ‘strategy’ against the far right. The reality is that their strategy de facto strengthens the far-right, by adopting its policies which are based on hatred and divisive narratives.”
The statement claims, “Ursula von der Leyen has not ruled out cooperating with extreme right-wing parties. At a press conference on 22 February 2024, she avoided giving a direct answer to the question of whether she would cooperate with the parties in the ECR group that includes the PiS (Poland), the Francoist Vox (Spain) and Reconquete (France).”
Vogel added “The far right is on the rise, including neo-fascists, and the EPP is opening the door to them a little more every week. The choice at the elections is already clear. We Greens are pro-European democrats and we will stand with those who courageously fight for people, climate and democracy. In the European elections in June, freedom is on the ballot.”
