The second-biggest delegation, the Poles, recently warned they will not continue to play ball if that means losing the socialists and liberals, the EPP’s centrist allies.
The party leadership has argued they will not sacrifice their policy objectives for the sake of appeasing the socialists — and if the far-right vote in favor of EPP’s proposals, so be it.
A similar argument was made in the presidency’s congress declaration, which insists the party should be pragmatic on who it works with to deliver “balanced” solutions and argues the EPP “is the bridge builder” among political families, according to a draft obtained by POLITICO.
Having led the party in the European Parliament since 2014, Weber in 2019 campaigned for the top job of European Commission president, though he was ultimately dismissed by heads of government in favor of Ursula von der Leyen, then Germany’s defense minister.
Instead of vying to snatch the Parliament’s presidency, currently held by Roberta Metsola, Weber opted for the post of party president. Since his election in May 2022, he has adopted a strategy of shaping EPP policy in tandem with heads of government to bolster the party’s agenda-setting heft.
Weber steered the drafting of the party’s Bucharest Manifesto ahead of June’s EU election, which has pressured the second von der Leyen Commission into toughening its stance on migration and backtracking on the EU executive chief’s own cherished Green Deal and other legislation passed last term with several deregulation packages.
