Within the pro-European political forces, the Christian Democratic political group is isolated from the European Parliament in its support for the title “Protecting the European way of life” in the portfolio given to Commissioner-designate Margaritis Schinas.
“I am proud to be a European. Politically, what is important is that we do not allow the extreme right to hijack this debate”, said EPP Group Chairman Manfred Weber on Tuesday 17 September, convinced of the need for pro-European forces to defend their vision of the European way of life. “We want to defend tolerance, solidarity, also vis-à-vis the migrants. That is the EU way of life. Le Pen is NOT the European way of life”, he added.
In response to the controversy, raised by the title of Mr Schinas' portfolio, the President-elect of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, published an op-ed in which she described the European way of life on the basis of Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union (see EUROPE 12328/5).
However, for the S&D group, the publication of this forum is already in itself an acknowledgement of a problem. “Our group is opposed to this name [...]. What bothers us is the association of migration with this title. We are not alone”, said Iratxe García Pérez, on behalf of the S&D group, for whom the European way of life must be based on the principles of “inclusion” and “solidarity”.
Other political groups openly accuse the German Christian Democrat of using the language of the extreme right in order to convince the hard wing of her political family, which had criticised her progressive speech.
“Mr Schinas' portfolio mixes internal security and migration. It is the narrative of the most extreme right: immigration is a problem both for our way of life and for security”, interpreted Greens/EFA Group Co-President Philippe Lamberts of Belgium. In his opinion, choosing such a title means that “these migrants are potential terrorists or aggressors and therefore do not share our values. And he considers that the insistence with which Mrs von der Leyen defends this title is “revealing”. “She wants to placate on her right”, he said.
On the Liberal side, there is an “ambiguity”. “I know what the shared common values are among pro-European groups. No problem. I don't know what the way of life means”, said Stéphane Séjourné (Renew Europe, France). And he noted the following contradiction: “The far right supports the title. It is curious that a party against the EU would welcome the idea of the EU governing the way of life! We can feel that, behind it, there is for the extreme right the rhetoric of the Judeo-Christian civilisation”. According to him, “it is clear that, if the controversy persists, it is better to change the title”.
Mrs von der Leyen will justify her approach on Thursday 19 September to the European Parliament Conference of Political Groups (see EUROPE 12326/4). (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion and editorial staff)