Brussels, 20/10/2015 (Agence Europe) - Meeting in Madrid for two days on 21 and 22 October, the European People's Party (EPP) and its representatives will seek to agree their positions on a series of hot topics, such as immigration, but also defence and the European economy, with the migration crisis having raised the tension between members of this political family, particularly between the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, and the Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orban.
“We are experiencing crisis, we need to find common solutions”, Joseph Daul, the EPP president, who is to be re-elected in Madrid, commented on Thursday 15 October. During this period, the leaders are also “confronted with the rise of populism”, he added.
Against this backdrop, and under the banner of the slogan 'United', 14 heads of state or government of the EU or third countries and 11 European Commissioners will be meeting in Madrid. This Congress will also serve as an election meeting in support of the Spanish Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, less than two months ahead of the general elections to be held in Spain.
During its congress meeting, the EPP will adopt a series of resolutions and will take position on, amongst other things, a reinforced external security and defence policy, increasing the defence budgets or the creation of a European army in the longer term. This initiative will not be “for tomorrow”, but is at least “no longer taboo”, Joseph Daul explained.
On immigration, the debates of the EPP leaders will mainly focus on reinforcing the external borders, which will be one of the main subjects of the summit, notably through the role of the agency Frontex, but will also look at the shortcomings of some of the member states when it comes to the management of their borders.
Greece is expected to be discussed at length and the question of its membership of the Schengen zone may even be raised, if problems persist. “If Greece functions, Schengen functions”, the EPP president commented, adding that the EU has already “spent a lot on Greece's borders”.
The so-called Dublin Regulation will also be discussed. President Daul is in favour of a revision of this instrument. “The rules need to adapt to the situation we are living in”. Daul believes that Angela Merkel was right in September, when she suspended the application of Dublin to the benefit of Syrian refugees. With “what happened in Budapest, I am glad that she suspended Dublin”, he said, adding that the Chancellor had “made some good decisions”.
Other stances will be adopted in Madrid, on subjects such as TTIP and the digital economy. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)