But the party walks a tightrope. While not actively negotiating with the far right, the EPP can often depend on its votes in the European Parliament, becoming bedfellows in areas such as migration and deregulation ― exactly the sort of issues, the EPP feels, that motivated voters to support it.
“I would love to see a different situation in the European Parliament,” Weber said. “But they are here, they have a vote … and the EPP has one principle and that is following our promises.”
Weber personally, and the EPP more broadly, have been criticized by the Socialists, liberals and Greens for tilting rightward after the June Parliament election in both policy and rhetoric. Those critics argue the EPP has cozied up to politicians they consider extreme, such as Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and her Brothers of Italy party, which Weber deems sufficiently moderate to team up with in a loose coalition dubbed the Venezuela majority.
Right-wing answers
The EPP is home to heavyweights such as European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk. Since last June’s election it has held control of the EU’s main institutions ― the Commission, the Parliament and the Council ― and so holds sway over swaths of decision-making.
Weber, a member of the Christian Social Union (the Bavarian sister party of Merz’s CDU), said the election results — which gave the EPP the largest number of MEPs — followed a surge of far-right forces signaling that citizens want right-wing answers to their problems and ending the center-left consensus that had dominated the previous term in Brussels.
His ideal scenario, Weber said, is to work with centrist parties to enable a right-wing shift.
