Brussels, 04/03/2004 (Agence Europe) - The president of the European People's Party, Wilfried Martens, condemned in a press release the "banal poker game" being played by the Liberals who, he said, are seeking to "filch the place of EPP-ED group deputies at the European Parliament". Despite the effort they are making, the Liberals have not gained ground in the "new Europe", the former Belgian Prime Minister affirms, describing their party (Ed.: that of Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt) as a "movement that is almost defunct". "I feel only disdain for those who (…) imply that the EPP has abandoned or compromised its European commitment", Mr Martens added, saying: "the EPP on the other hand is the house of the real Europeans (…). During our congress in February, our manifesto - the only truly trans-European manifesto - committed our members to implement an ambitious political programme for the next five years". For changes to the statute requested and obtained by the British Conservatives who are members of the EPP-ED, they aim to give "greater leeway", and this will also give the main component of the Group, the EPP, the possibility of fully implementing the party's programme, Mr Martens commented.
The president of the EPP-ED Group, Hans Gert-Pöttering, who presented the group's Yearbook for 2003 on Wednesday, assured for his part that, for the EPP, the European Constitution remains the "priority of priorities", while telling the British Conservatives present that "one can be friends even if one doesn't have the same opinion". Furthermore, the CDU member reaffirmed his confidence in an EPP victory at the European elections in June.
In an interview with The Financial Times on Thursday, Hans-Gert Pöttering repeated that, if the EPP wins the elections, it will not accept a Socialist president for the next European Commission. He went on to add that the EPP has at least four contenders for this post: the Luxembourg and Austrian Heads of Government Jean-Claude Juncker (see EUROPE of 2 march, p.6) and Wolfgang Schüssel, former Belgian Prime Minister Jean-Luc Dehaene (who had suffered the British veto during the European Council in June 1994, in Corfu - an Extraordinary European Council in July in Brussels had then chosen Luxembourg Prime Minister Jacques Santer as Jacques Delors' successor) and the European Commission for Transport and Energy, Loyola de Palacio (an "excellent person", he said).