In its forthcoming manifesto setting out its priorities for the European elections to be held from 6 to 9 June (see EUROPE 13329/29), the EPP is expected to focus on reducing the administrative burden and easing requirements in certain sectors, such as agriculture. The centre-right party is also expected to harden its stance on the issue of immigration by, among other things, strengthening the resources of Frontex.
According to a source within the political group, amendments to the future EPP manifesto can still be tabled until Friday 19 January. However, the text, which will be submitted to the EPP Political Assembly for approval on 29 and 30 January, is likely, in the interests of reducing the administrative and regulatory burden, to base part of its strategy in this area on the principle of ‘one new law passed, two abolished’.
According to the draft manifesto, this would reduce what the EPP describes as an “administrative burden” by a third. The draft manifesto also puts forward the idea of creating a European Commissioner with special responsibility for SMEs.
This desire to reduce the weight of legislative requirements as far as possible in order to protect competitiveness - sacrosanct in the eyes of the EPP - can also be seen in other areas, such as artificial intelligence, and other sectors, such as agriculture.
In this area, while the centre-right group has set itself up as the standard-bearer for farmers’ interests since the fratricidal battle in the European Parliament over the law on nature restoration (see EUROPE 13221/1), the EPP says it wants to guarantee food production and protect jobs.
While the group believes that the burden on farmers is partly due to the increase in legislation aimed at protecting the environment, it also believes that work on the European Green Deal must continue.
However, according to the EPP, the emphasis here too should be on maintaining competitiveness, with a technology-neutral approach. In this respect, the group’s draft manifesto also states that the EPP intends to review “as soon as possible” the text relating to the future ban on the sale of combustion engine vehicles (see EUROPE 13151/5).
The EPP also plans to harden its stance on illegal immigration. On this point, the EPP’s draft manifesto proposes increasing the number of people working for Frontex to 30,000, three times more than at present.
Still on the subject of increasing staff numbers, the centre-right group is also proposing to increase the number of Europol staff from 650 to 3,000 to combat terrorism, crime and violence against women. (Original version in French by Thomas Mangin)