On Saturday 24 February in Ljubljana, the Party of the European Left (EL) elected Austrian Walter Baier as its lead candidate (‘Spitzenkandidat’) for the forthcoming European elections, which will take place from 6 to 9 June. On this occasion, the EL also adopted its electoral manifesto. As Walter Baier explained to EUROPE on 23 February (see EUROPE 13357/15), EL will base its campaign on five pillars: - the cost of living and housing; - the climate crisis; - civil rights and diversity; - peace and democracy; - public services and social rights.
“The political manifesto [...] we have adopted unanimously. We have to reclaim European politics, this is our moment to make a European Union at the service of the people. We will not talk so much about what we don’t like. We want to talk about what we want to achieve with the people”, said Mr Baier in the wake of his appointment.
The EL’s campaign should therefore give pride of place to the issue of housing. Among the measures proposed, the manifesto is championing the idea of a directive to introduce a legal ceiling on rents.
The document also calls for investment of 7% of GDP in research and innovation, and 2% of GDP in culture. The EL will also make tackling violence against women one of its key areas of focus. This should involve recognition of femicide in European legislation, according to the manifesto, to which cosmetic changes were still to be made after its adoption.
“Nobody has the right to deprive women of their self-determination”, also commented Walter Baier, referring to political parties on the right of the political spectrum that would like, among other things, to challenge the right to abortion.
Part of the document also – logically – highlights the issue of climate change and the ecological transition. While Mr Baier pointed out from Slovenia that Europe “has become the fastest-warming continent in the world”, he also insisted that the fight against climate change should not be waged at the expense of the working class. “If you want to have ecological rehabilitation, you have to curb neoliberal policies”, he insisted.
The EL’s campaign programme also opposes “a new form of austerity”. On this point, the Spitzenkandidat called for “the recently approved Stability and Growth Pact to be replaced by a new pact focused on social and environmental restructuring, authorising expansionary and counter-cyclical policies”.
The campaign promises to be a complex one for the EL at a time when, in a number of Member States, the far-right parties appear to be gaining ground in the polls.
Asked by EUROPE about the composition of the next European Parliament, the party’s lead candidate is not giving up: “We expect the rise of the far right parties [...] and we do not believe that this is in the interests of the European people. So we will try to give a strong fight against the far right. We want to be an alternative [...] being heard as a voice which articulates the interests of the European people, we can be an alternative for many of them not to vote for parties of the far right”. (Original version in French by Thomas Mangin)