“It is midday and there have been no surprises”. It was with a joke that Joseph Daul, the President of the European People's Party (EPP), took note, on Wednesday 17 October, of the closing date for applications to become the Spitzenkandidat of the Christian Democrat family.
The two candidates are: - Germany's Manfred Weber, currently the head of the EPP group at the European Parliament, and Alexander Stubb of Finland, Vice-President of the European Investment Bank, who threw their hats into the ring in early September (see EUROPE 12089) and early October (see EUROPE 12108, 12115) respectively.
“We hear rumours about the Spitzenkandidaten process and we have been there in 2014, and I know that there is a commitment to respect this process”, commented Antonio López-Istúriz White (EPP, Spain), who firmly believes that the heads of state will respect the method they used in 2014, but which they regularly call into question.
In particular, the Twenty-Seven have refused to agree that the Spitzenkandidat of a European political family will automatically take the top job at the European Commission (see EUROPE 11968).
“I am a happy President”, Daul said, with candidates who represent the “new generation” and who have been “pioneers in the Spitzenkandidaten system”, a system that is “open and has worked well”.
The two men will face each other in Helsinki on 7 and 8 November, when 734 delegates will decide between them. At 09:45 on 8 November, before the delegates vote, the two candidates will be invited to make their professions of faith.
Weber, whose political family, the CSU of Germany, has just suffered an election defeat in Bavaria, is seen as a candidate likely to bring together all schools of thought in the EPP, while Stubb is basing his campaign on defending the European values that unite the Christian Democrat family, in particular against the Fidesz party of the Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orbán.
In Helsinki, the delegates of the EPP party will also discuss their campaign themes ahead of the European elections of May 2019, to include foreign policy, economic prosperity and the migration challenge.
A resolution setting out the watchwords and values of the EPP will also be put to the vote, at what could be an important moment in clarifying the position in the family of Orbán's Fidesz party.
This Wednesday afternoon, the candidates will start to present themselves to the heads of state and senior EPP figures, head of the European summit. The EPP is also expected to hold new discussions on the Hungarian Prime Minister (see other article).
The Next Generation of Europe. Presenting the press with his campaign programme and support in Brussels on the same day, Stubb promised to uphold European values in the face of attacks from outside the EU - the Trump administration, Russia - and from inside it - illiberal behaviour observed in Italy, Poland and Hungary.
He called for a contractual relationship to be set in place between the EPP party and Fidesz, with the latter to be allowed to remain in the family as long as it respects the rules and values.
On migration matters, the former Finnish Prime Ministers stressed that migration flows were now under control, criticising senior political figures for indulging in hate speech and stirring up fear. “We will not survive by building walls”, his campaign manifesto, distributed the same day, stresses. Supporting the idea of creating hosting centres outside the EU in full respect of international law, he is also in favour of national quotas of asylum seekers on humanitarian grounds.
Stubb went on to say that he hoped to lead a 40% female Commission, with just a third of seats in the 'Juncker' Commission taken by women. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic with Mathieu Bion)