2024-01-14 11:35:48
SPÖ-EU delegation leader: “Before the EU elections, Manfred Weber invokes European values, but his EPP is seeking solidarity with the far right”
Vienna (OTS/SK) – After the appearance of the group leader of the European People’s Party (EPP) Manfred Weber in today’s ORF press hour, the central question remains unanswered for SPÖ-EU delegation leader Andreas Schieder: “Europe will face the EU elections in 2024 before making a decision: which Europe do we want to live in? Will the EPP continue to roll out the red carpet for the extreme right and copy them in terms of content and rhetoric? Or will she defend the European unification project and our democracy together with us social democrats? Apparently the EPP group hasn’t quite decided yet, as the appearance of group leader Manfred Weber shows today. No matter how much he invokes European values, under his leadership the EPP group has moved significantly to the right. The recent withdrawal of Othmar Karas – the most prominent ÖVP European politician – provided a deep insight into the internal contradictions of Europe’s Christian Socialists. Regardless of whether it is climate protection, protection of the rule of law or migration and asylum policy, the EPP has recently repeatedly torpedoed important EU reform projects. In Austria, Chancellor Karl Nehammer dressed up as a scapegoat in a keynote speech to the EU and his European Minister Karoline Edtstadler brought up the factional alliance with the Italian post-fascists. How does this fit in with our own claim as a leading pro-European political force in the EU Parliament?” says Schieder. ****
“We Social Democrats make a completely different offer to the pro-European, democratic forces in the People’s Party: strengthen democracy, create justice, establish the EU as a global peace project!” said Schieder. “Let us renew our cooperation in the spirit of the founding idea of European unification. Against the background of the various current crises, we must defend our democratic foundations even more strongly against attacks from within. The greatest threat to European democracy comes from the far right. In their experimental laboratory in Hungary, we see where this path leads: closing ranks with Moscow and Beijing, clamping down on independent courts and a free press, and dismantling democratic institutions. Instead, we must strengthen the EU as a peace and prosperity project. For this we would need a democratic and pro-European people’s party as a partner.” (Conclusion) jf/ff
Questions & Contact:
Jakob Flossmann
Press spokesman for the SPÖ delegation in the European Parliament
+43 660 562 11 99
[email protected]
1705232652
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