On Tuesday 22 October in Strasbourg, several members of the Greens/EFA group in the European Parliament deplored the fact that environmentalists are no longer listened to by the President-elect of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, even though they helped to get her re-elected (see EUROPE 13456/1).
These environmentalists also criticised the changes in the President-elect’s position on a number of issues, notably migration, and her backtracking on the pledges given to the group before the European Parliament elections.
On migration, the President of the Commission, who in her letter of 16 October endorsed a number of “innovative solutions” on migration, such as “return hubs”, has “gone off the rails”, commented Belgium’s Saskia Bricmont. She also claimed Ms von der Leyen is “doing the opposite of what she promised us” at the meeting with Ms Bricmont’s group, when she said she did not “want to go any further” on migration, particularly with regard to the Pact on Migration and Asylum, and to be “mindful of the rule of law”.
“It’s a never-ending race after the far right”, added French MEP Mounir Satouri, stating that the group “does not feel listened to by Ursula von der Leyen”. “She is giving all the signals (that) she doesn’t need us”, added Ms Bricmont.
The French and Belgian delegations of the Greens group voted against the re-election of Ms von der Leyen as head of the Commission.
But for these MEPs the Greens/EFA are not the only ones to have been fooled: the Renew Europe group has been misled on migration too, according to them. On Monday 21 October, the right-wing and far-right groups rejected holding debates requested by the Greens/EFA and Renew Europe on the ‘Pact on Migration and Asylum’ and the controversial Italian-Albanian scheme.
German MEP Terry Reintke also noted a worrying trend: more and more decisions are being taken on the basis of an EPP alliance with the far right, “such as the timetable for hearings”. “We are seeing this on more and more issues”, she said, citing in particular the case of a recent European Parliament resolution on Venezuela (see EUROPE 13486/8).
“This represents a break with the way we have operated up to now, cooperating on the basis of pro-European and democratic formations. It’s worrying in terms of what lies in the years ahead”, commented the co-president of the Greens/EFA group. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)