The EPP group at the European Parliament met in Lyon on Thursday 12 and Friday 13 April to start the reflection on the major themes to be dealt with by the EPP family during the European election campaigns: security, from terrorism, but also from migration, is expected to dominate. This, moreover, is the subject matter agreed upon by the seminar in Lyon.
The meeting allowed very clear immediate requests to be identified, summarised Manfred Weber, the leader of the group, at a press conference: for the terrorist threat, the exchange of information between member states must be tightened up still further, as it is still not working perfectly; additionally, “more European efforts” are needed on the external borders of the EU and at least 10,000 officers of the European border guard agency, the former Frontex, must be deployed to tackle the Mafia and illegal immigration. The chair of the European People’s Party, Joseph Daul, also firmly believes that ensuring the security of our citizens will be one of the major stakes of the 2019 campaign.
The party’s chairman summed up the threats to the EU: terrorism, Islamic radicalisation, but also the Russian threat, “which we must not forget about”. One of the ways of protecting Europeans is to reinforce the external borders, which will also help to reinforce the feeling of belonging and of common borders, but also to have genuinely common defence, migration and asylum policies. “Eventually, we will need a European army”, the Frenchman repeated. We must also “adapt security policies to current challenges such as cyber-security and fake news”.
The security of the Europeans is also the priority of Laurent Wauquiez, the president of the French Republicans and of the region of Rhône-Alpes Auvergne, who was playing host to his counterparts. “We are convinced that the election will be fought on sovereign issues”, he said by way of introduction, referring to the challenges of terrorist threats and migration, “which must be among our priorities in the ensuing campaign”.
He called for the future campaign to be fought on the ticket of “protective Europe”, because “if European integration does not ensure the protection of our countrymen and women, will be swept away by a wave of scepticism”.
Campaign still to be launched
Was the EPP campaign launched in Lyon on 11 April? And will it focus on security from terrorism and migration alone? “It is still too early to say”, said Dara Murphy of Ireland, whom the EPP has appointed to weave a thread between all ideas and sensitivities - between pro-federalists and those calling for less integration - of the national parties that make up the EPP. This Irish national will be responsible for summing up the ideas and priorities between now and September and October, when the EPP will start the process to select its ‘Spitzenkandidat’.
Murphy considers that there is not necessarily any need to identify new spheres for EU competences; deepening what is already happening “is not necessarily a bad thing”, but on migration or defence, cooperation can be developed. The EPP’s plan should focus on very specific things to make life better for Europeans. But it should not just be about security against terrorism.
This is because security encompasses many other things, other members of the EPP pointed out, such as the leader of the French delegation of the EPP, Frank Proust, who argues that the question also includes security of foreign investments, a subject on which he is incidentally working on a report.
Another challenge of the EPP will be to offer an alternative to Emmanuel Macron, the French President, who is seeking to propose a European window on his En Marche party and joined the Liberals of Belgium’s Guy Verhofstadt for an event in Brussels last Saturday. On Tuesday of next week, the French President will be in Strasbourg to give an address on the future of Europe. Certain EPP members anticipate that he will trip up, among them Geoffroy Didier, who considers that Macron has yet to win his spurs on Europe and even that he is putting forward ‘empty shell’ initiatives, such as citizens’ consultations. He sees this as a gimmick that Macron may use to launch En Marche’s European campaign, changing its starting objective.
The pitfall which the EPP must avoid, a parliamentary source said, is to be too desperate to set itself apart from President Macron’s speech, when “it is in fact Macron who has drawn many of his European ideas from the EPP”, such as the idea of a several-speed Europe. In this sense, the group must avoid the trap of taking position only on immigration or terrorism in the forthcoming campaign. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)