Macron addresses supporters in Paris ahead of the final round of the presidential election, May 2017 | Aurelien Meunier/Getty Images
In Austria, 31-year old Sebastian Kurz has given the People’s Party a new lease on life. In France, where the established parties failed to go through a similar transformation, French President Emmanuel Macron’s movement was the one to turn the existing party system upside down and save the country from a Marine Le Pen presidency.
The same logic applies to the European election in May. Given voters turn out in lower numbers at EU elections than national polls, the outcome will be decided by the difference in levels of energy and excitement between different groups of voters. The angry and the discontented are likely to show up. The challenge will be to mobilize the silent majority who do not want the European project to go up in flames.
The EPP has to show where it parts ways with Europe’s right-wing populists — and with the Continent’s liberals and progressives. There is nothing wrong with emphasizing themes of subsidiarity and Europe’s Christian heritage. But the EPP cannot remain indifferent — as Weber has shown himself to be by heartily accepting Fidesz’s endorsement — to the egregious abuses of power taking place in Hungary.
If it wants to stay relevant, the EPP will have to pursue a similar strategy and nominate a fresh, credible, ideas-driven leader who can speak to voters across the EU — not the lowest common denominator offered by Weber.
Others in the political center have realized that already. A pact in the works between Emmanuel Macron and Mark Rutte’s VVD on the common platform for the election, bypassing the increasingly tiresome Belgian Liberal leader Guy Verhofstadt, is a step in the right direction.
Source link : https://www.politico.eu/article/opinion-manfred-weber-alex-stubb-epp-europe-conservatives-need-a-leader-not-an-apparatchik/
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Publish date : 2018-11-08 08:00:00
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