In the hemicycle of Strasbourg on Wednesday 12 September, on the occasion of the state of the union speech by the President of the European Commission (see EUROPE 12094), the Vice-President of the European Parliament, Dimitrios Papadimoulis (GUE/NGL, Greece) launched an appeal to bring the pro-European forces together against the rise in populism.
“President Juncker, who is a member of the European People's Party, spoke as a European Democrat, particularly when he spoke of the future. Yesterday, Viktor Orbán, who is also a member of the EPP, spoke the Europe that is facing the past”, Papadimoulis said (our translation). “As for us, we must today seize the future, we must create a pro-European alliance to fight this risk of going backwards”, he said.
When approached by EUROPE for comment, Papadimoulis repeated the need for a broad and progressive pro-European alliance that will lay emphasis on reducing social and pay inequality, and on strengthening the European Pillar of Social Rights. He also stressed the need for institutional reforms and strengthened socio-economic indicators.
In an interview with EurActiv on Monday 10 September, the Greek MEP and member of the Progressive Causus, a dialogue space that aims to build bridges between the European progressive forces (see EUROPE 11814), provided a bit more detail about his variable-geometry project: - broad (up to the ranks of the EPP) to face up to the far-right and populist forces; - smaller (the radical left, Greens, Social Democrats) to push forward on social issues.
Papadimoulis also explained that he supports the system of appointing lead candidates from the European political families (Spitzenkandidaten), as long as the procedure remains “transparent, democratic and accountable”. “Regardless of who will be leading the way for the left-wing forces, one thing is crucial: to stand united and propose concrete solutions, not some vague string of wishful thinking”, he told EUROPE.
The European Left Party will decide on whether it is taking part in the 'Spitzenkandidaten' process at its general assembly, to be held on 29 and 30 September (see EUROPE 12086). The members of the executive bureau and of the Council of the Presidents of the Party would thus have to appoint their representative for the European elections of May 2019. The name of the current President of the Party, Gregor Gysi, is doing the rounds.
Other progressive forces are trying to create pan-European movements ahead of the elections, to breathe new life into the EP. These include DIEM 25 of the former Greek finance minister Yánis Varoufákis, Génération.s of France's Benoît Hamon (see EUROPE 12001) and the movement launched by initiative of Jean-Luc Mélenchon, Et maintenant le Peuple!, which currently includes La France insoumise, Bloco de Esquerda, Podemos and a number of Scandinavian radical left parties (see EUROPE 12050). (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)