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European Election 2014
Parties, manifestos and candidates
PDU READER
PDU Reader 1/2014
European Election 2014:
Parties, manifestos and candidates
PDU Reader 1/2014
May 2014
Editorial team: James Bartholomeusz, Korbinian Rueger, Daniel Schade (V.i.S.d.P.)
Layout: Daniel Schade
Image credits:
Cover image “A birdlike view of the plenary
chamber” courtesy of European Parliament
via Flickr, Creative Commons 2.0 Attribution.
Parliamentary group logos courtesy of the
different parliamentary groups.
P.5: “Jean-Claude Juncker” courtesy of European People’s Party via Flickr, Creative Commons 2.0 Attribution.
P. 7: “Martin Schulz in Esterwegen“ courtesy
of Matthias Groote via Flickr, Creative Commons 2.0 Attribution.
Other content released under Creative Commons 2.0 Attribution non-commercial.
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2
European Election 2014: Parties, manifestos and candidates
Contents
This reader gives an overview over the two main contenders for
the post of Commisison President and outlines the positions of the
current parliamentary groups in the European Parliament ahead of
the 2014 Parliamentary election.
The main contenders
4
6
Jean-Claude Juncker
Martin Schulz
Political Parties
8
10
12
14
16
18
European Peoples’ Party (EPP)
Socialists and Democrats (S&D)
Liberals and Democrats (ALDE)
Greens/European Free Alliance (EFA)
United Left/Nordic Green Left (GUE-NGL)
Europe of Freedom and Democracy (EFD)
PDU Reader 1/2014
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By Maxence Salendre
Jean-Claude Juncker
Due to his long tenure as Luxemburg’s head of government the
candidate of the European Peoples’ Party is one of the longest-serving
European-level politicians.
I
t’s under a shy but warming Irish sun that the
Emerald Isle celebrated its economic return
to grace within EU circles on March 7 during
the European People’s Party convention. In a
reinvigorating family meeting hosted at the Dublin Convention Centre, EPP members, European conservative MPs and right-wing supporters
celebrated the Irish recovery and discussed electoral strategy. But the real purpose was elsewhere.
The real question was: “Who would lead the conservative troops to the forthcoming electoral assault of May 22-25?” 382 votes later Luxembourg’s
former Prime Minister Jean-Claude Jüncker
defeated French European Commissioner for
internal market and services Michel Barnier (245
votes).
A true European
T
his vote is but the next step for a man whose
political aura grew alongside the development
of the EU. A development he also spearheaded.
Born in December 1954 in Redange-sur-Attert
(Luxemburg), a graduate in law from the University of Strasbourg, his election to the Luxemburgish Parliament as member of the Christian Social
People’s Party launched his political career. After
serving in various Luxemburgish ministries (Minister for Finance, Labour and Budget) and lead-
4
ing the Economic and Financial Affairs Council
which co-authored the economic and monetary
union sections of the Maastricht Treaty, he was
nominated as Luxembourg’s Prime Minister in
1995. Remaining in office until 2013 he became
one of the longest serving Prime Ministers of the
European Union.
His knowledge of financial affairs and EU circles also proved essential during his office as first
President of the EuroGroup between 2005 and
2013. His European involvement was topped in
1998 with the granting of the Vision for Europe
Award in “recognition of outstanding achievements in taking Europe into the future”. It is an
award he shares with Jacques Santer, Helmut
Kohl, Angela Merkel, Jean-Claude Trichet and
Guy Verhofstadt, his future Liberal contender in
the forthcoming 2014 European elections.
A party with doubts
H
owever, let’s not be fooled. Mr Juncker’s
nomination as EPP leader for the elections
is a sign of the party’s doubts. In his acceptance
speech last week he was the first to stress the difficulties ahead: “We have to explain why the EU
is not a phenomenon of the past but a need of the
future”. In the midst of the worst economic crisis
the EU has ever faced, with polls suggesting the
European Election 2014: Parties, manifestos and candidates
lowest turnout to an election which usually does
not impassion EU citizens, the conservative members of the EPP need strong leadership. And there
is no doubt that Mr Juncker’s aura, knowledge and
connections in EU circles will prove useful to a
euro-party which needs to explain to people the
reasons to current austerity measures in Europe
and why their votes are essential to pursue the
construction of an ever more intricate and politically united European Union.
Majorities needed
T
he EPP can currently align 270 Members
of the European Parliament (MEPs) against
218 for the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and
Democrats (S&D) led by European Parliament
president Martin Schulz and 75 for the Alliance
of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party
(ALDE) led by Guy Verhofstadt. The 22-25 May
elections will see the renewal of the mandates of
the 750 MEPs and the leading party in the European Parliament will get the first chance to compose and submit a Commission to the European
Council. With 13 seats of the Council held by
EPP-friendly leaders, an EPP victory in May is
likely to result in the nomination of Mr Juncker as President of the Commission in November
2014.
“Tout un programme”
T
he elections start looking like a race against
the clock for an EPP that needs to convince
the 500 million Europeans to support their political manifesto adopted in Dublin last week.
Among the main measures are economic reform,
growth-friendly budget consolidation, job creation, financial market reform and support to the
European currency1. Insisting on its decisive actions in the field of unemployment, growth and
jobs creation, the euro-party plans on strengthening European R&D, securing SMEs, developing the digital agenda, enforcing the green
energy and climate change agenda, fighting tax
evasion, tax fraud and rogue banking practices
and reforming the Single Market.
Reaffirming the ideas of individual freedom,
dignity and stability in an ever-changing world
whose globalised waves shatter the neighbouring
shores of the EU in Ukraine, Turkey and North
Africa, the EPP seeks to reassure and remobilise a scattered electorate which is quick to use
the European Union as a scapegoat for its current structural, institutional and political problems.
“Tout un programme” some might say. An
agenda whose promotion will require all of Mr
Juncker’s talent.
PDU Reader 1/2014
5
By Benjamin Zeeb
Martin Schulz
The candidate of the Socialists and Progressives in the European
Parliament, Martin Schulz is the second contender with a realistic
chance of being the next Commission President.
W
ith the selection of Martin Schulz as the
front-runner in this year’s EU Parliamentary elections, the S&D decided to go with one of
the Parliament’s most prolific politicians. More
precisely Schulz, like his main opponent, the
EPP’s Jean-Claude Juncker, belongs to that exclusive club of EU politicians of whom a decent
number of Europeans might actually be able to
recognize in a picture. That might not sound like
much, but is indeed a great improvement over
such previous contests.
O
ther than Juncker, who served as Minister
of Finance and later premier of his home
country, Schulz is perhaps the first politician
whose career was truly made within an EU
institution. After having served as Mayor of
Würselen, a small town in North Rhine-Westphalia, an office to which he was elected at the
tender age of 31 in 1987, he went on to become
an MEP in 1994. Schulz quickly rose within the
Parliament and became the German SPD’s leader in 2000, and headed the S&D parliamentary
6
group from 2004. In 2012, he was elected the
body’s president.
A
s such, he has been a staunch defender of the
Parliament’s rights vis a vis the Commission
and Europe’s heads of state who at times regard
the Parliament’s rising influence with a degree of
sceptical anxiety. It was mainly Schulz and his
team who succeed in really taking advantage of
the new rules in place since the Treaty of Lisbon,
allowing Europe’s parliamentary factions to select candidates for the post of Commission President. While there is no legal certainty that the
parliament’s candidate will eventually accede to
the post, the way that Schulz and Juncker were
presented to the public in this year’s campaign
will make it very difficult for the European Council to nominate an alternative candidate lest they
wish to propel the EU’s oft cited democratic deficit once again to the centre of public attention.
Even a defeat of Schulz the Commission candidate could thus lead to a victory of Schulz the
President of the Parliament.
European Election 2014: Parties, manifestos and candidates
I
n this tight race, it is mainly his home country that might dim Schulz’ own prospects to
become Commission President. While he is formally running against Juncker, German Christian Democrats are waging a campaign that rests
firmly on Angela Merkel’s popularity. It will be
difficult to achieve a strong showing in Germany
with the SPD having constantly undershot pollster’s expectations in previous European races.
Meanwhile, in other member-states, he might
be perceived as the “German candidate”, the representative of the nation that already holds substantial sway over the Union and that recently
pushed through economic policy in the eurozone
that has brought many countries to the brink of
social collapse.
F
or the Schulz campaign, the unique challenge
is on one hand to convince German voters,
who make up a large part of the electorate, that he
is actually running against Juncker, a candidate
that despite his relative popularity in Germany
is far more flawed than the ever-popular Merkel.
Both Juncker’s Luxembourgian origin, which
many associate with chronic tax evasion, and his
long-time attachment to the EU, an institution
faulted by many for its legislative overreach or
it’s slow-speed development, provide openings
to attack an otherwise formidable opponent.
On the other hand, Schulz needs to play down
his German roots when campaigning for votes
in Europe’s southern member-states, playing up
his reserved position on the politics of austerity
and his endorsement of euro bonds as a possible
solution to the economic crisis.
W
hether or not Schulz can pull this off in a
race, a race that pollsters at the moment
see as too close to call, remains to be seen and is
not a primary concern of the PDU. In that other race however, the struggle to invest the office
of Commission President with real democratic
legitimacy, and to reduce the European Council’s appointment to a mere formality, we wish
him and the entire European Parliament bonne
chance.
PDU Reader 1/2014
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By James Bartholomeusz
European People’s Party
Currently the largest bloc in the European Parliament, the EPP aims
to secure the post of Commission President for its candidate JeanClaude Juncker.
F
ollowing the trend of much domestic European politics, the two largest blocs in the Parliament are the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and
Democrats, on the centre-Left, and the European People’s Party, on the centre-Right. The latter
(abbreviated to the EPP) was officially founded in
1976, but was the amalgamation of various earlier Christian-democratic and centre-Right organisations such as the International Secretariat of
Democratic Parties of Christian Inspiration and
the New International Teams (formed in 1926 and
1946 respectively). As one might expect, the party’s ideology is a blend of conservatism and social-market capitalism, with a traditional religious
persuasion.
A
s of the 2009 elections the EPP is the largest
bloc in the Parliament, with 274 MEPs, and
the current president of the Commission, José
Manuel Barroso, is also a party affiliate. It is the
umbrella organisation for the majority of moderate Right-wing parties in Europe, including the
German Christian Democrats and the French
8
Union for a Popular Movement. Whilst in some
areas, such as fiscal policy and social issues, it
shares ground with other smaller parties such
as the European Conservatives and Reformists
(ECR) and Europe of Freedom and Democracy
(EFD), it is stridently pro-European, describing
itself as “committed to a strong Europe based on
a federal model that relies on the principle of subsidiarity”.
G
iven this, the party (and more overtly its
constituent national parties) has struggled
to define its relationship to the Eurosceptic hardRight. The effects of the eurozone crisis have
triggered a spike in popularity for organisations
taking populist and nationalistic stances against
the EU; whilst this phenomenon affects parties
across the political spectrum, its effect on centre-Right support has been particularly notable
as voters discontented with the status quo drift
away to the radical fringe. In France, for example, the EPP-affiliated UMP has been forced into
more and more hard-line positions by the elec-
European Election 2014: Parties, manifestos and candidates
toral threat from the Front National. In Britain,
the British Conservative Party has defected to
the Eurosceptic ECR in an attempt to respond
to the growing appeal of the EFD-affiliated United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP). There
is the ongoing risk that the pro-European, centre-Right establishment will fragment under the
pressures of nationalist retreat; one might say
under the tensions between the socio-political
and economic imperatives of conservatism.
Nevertheless, for the time being, the EPP
continues to provide a conservative and pro-business case for a federal Europe. The internal market, which allows firms from any member-states
to operate and trade without tariffs, is touted by
the party as a major victory for pan-continental cooperation. Similarly, EPP representatives
have supported the idea of a combined European
defence force (particularly in the wake of recent
events in eastern Ukraine), and the party in general appears committed to the preservation and
celebration of the common history and culture
of the continent. All of these stances, and more,
align it closely with the ideals of the Project for
Democratic Union.
T
hese stances are also largely held by the EPP’s
2014 candidate for the presidency of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker. A
former prime minister of Luxembourg and a
governor of the World Bank and IMF, he defeated the current Commissioner for the Single Market, Michael Barnier, at the party’s nomination
stage to be made candidate. Juncker is a committed federalist and has signalled his desire for the
European project to rediscover its founding ideals in the climate of post-war solidarity.
Although there has been a general drift towards Euroscepticism (of both Right- and Leftwing varieties) since the last election, the EPP still
stands to do well in these elections. Whilst the ascendancy of the Progressive Alliance might mean
it is reduced to the second-largest Parliamentary
bloc, the party will continue to exert a major influence over the post-crisis direction of the European project.
PDU Reader 1/2014
9
By Korbinian Rueger and Wolfgang P. Warth
Progressive Alliance of
Socialists and Democrats
With the acting president of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz,
as their frontrunner, the S&D want to put Europe on a different path.
T
he Progressive Alliance of Socialists and
Democrats are the parliamentary group of
the Party of European Socialists and comprises the MEPs of the centre-left parties from all
EU-member states, including the French Socialist Party, the German Social Democratic Party and the British Labour Party. Currently the
Socialists and Democrats form the second biggest political group in the European Parliament
overall, after the conservative European People’s
Party.
The S&D have nominated the German Martin Schulz, acting president of the European Parliament, as their frontrunner and candidate to be
the next European Commission president. This
is a delicate issue, as the British Labour Party has
officially stated that they would not be endorsing
Schulz, whose federal agenda is at odds with Labour’s vision for Europe.
Whether they make good on this promise could be of decisive importance should the
S&D be part of a majority in the new parliament
and recommend Schulz as Commission president.
10
Economic Policy
A
t the first TV debate of the top candidates
Martin Schulz said that “we are running the
risk that, in some of our member states, a whole
generation pay with their life chances for a crisis
they have not caused.“ This concern is what drives
the S&D’s economic policy. They want to dramatically strengthen financial market regulation and
to put an end to the strict austerity measures that,
as they say, are crippling the economy of many
member states.
Their plans for financial regulation include
the much discussed European Financial Transaction Tax, as well as Eurobonds. They also want
to increase banking supervision to prevent future
crashes. The banking union is a welcome first step
in the right direction. Furthermore they want to
close tax loopholes and fight tax havens. They argue that tax avoidance via these channels costs
European governments €1 trillion every year.
Together with stricter regulation, the S&D
want to end austerity and boost public investment. They argue that EU investment in the poor-
European Election 2014: Parties, manifestos and candidates
er countries would lead to declining unemployment rates in those countries and effectively to an
increase in export demands in the richer countries, creating a win-win situation for all member-states. To implement these plans, the S&D call
for a real coordination of the fiscal policies in the
Eurozone.
Foreign Policy
T
he S&D want Europe to be a global player, to
be a worldwide advocate of European values
like peace and democracy. While these claims certainly are of initial appeal, they remain obscurely vague. How these goals are to be reached is far
from clear. This is probably due to the heterogeneity of the S&D as a political group. While, for example, the German SPD is a supporter of a common European defence policy, including a future
European army, the British Labour is far more
hesitant. This heterogeneity leads to a platform
that puts forward obscure goals for European foreign and security policy without actually making
concrete proposals.
EU Governance
T
he S&D want to overhaul the European
Commission. The Commission is said to
need a new structure that would enable it to
work as effective and decision-oriented as a real
government. Again, what this actually means remains rather vague. This is a little different when
it comes to the role of the European Parliament;
the S&D is set to promote a greater role for it
among the EU institutions. The parliament, as
the voice of European citizens, is supposed to
have more legislative and budgetary control than
it currently does. It is supposed to lead EU legislation, fighting for bills that safeguard civil liberties and promote social justice and solidarity.
I
n conclusion, the S&D promote a vision for
Europe that is in line with many of the PDU’s
principles. However, the groups heterogeneity
leads to many proposals that remain vague and
obscure and are a far cry from real change. To
really put Europe on a new path, as it is claimed,
the S&D proposals would need to be bolder.
PDU Reader 1/2014
11
By Liam Fitzgerald
Alliance of Liberals and
Democrats for Europe
Liberalism is one of the most prominent political ideas of the past
centuries. ALDE represents the present iteration of these ideas in the
European Parliament.
L
iberalism as political idea has influenced most
movements in Europe and to this day remains a strong force, albeit with sometimes quite
far-reaching alterations to the original model.
Despite some liberal parties losing much of their
former influence in Europe, most national parliaments as well as the European Parliament are
host to numerous liberal members.
On the eve of the first European elections,
in 1976, liberal parties from across the European
Union gathered in Stuttgart, Germany, and created one of the very early cross-European political
groups. In the European Parliament, the Alliance
of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party are
part of the ALDE Group. ALDE Group’s second
member is the European Democratic Party.
Most EU member-states have MEPs in ALDE
Group, with only few exceptions such as Austria
or the Czech Republic. The group finds most of
its support in Scandinavia, the Baltic states and
the Balkans outside of Greece. 11% of MEPs, 85,
are members of the ALDE Group. With weak liberal parties, for instance Germany’s FDP, ALDE
Group is set to lose many of its seats in the upcoming elections, as recent polls have consistently been showing. The Group is expected to win
around 62 seats, down more than twenty from
the 2009 elections.
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A
LDE is acknowledged as being pro-European
with neo-liberal political views. In the past,
the party has been known for supporting several further integrational steps, such as the Lisbon
Treaty. In 2009, ALDE called for common European action on areas such as climate change and
migration policy.
It regularly criticized Russia and the People’s
Republic of China on perceived breaches of international law or basic human rights. In terms
of global governance, ALDE would like to create
a parliamentary assembly for the United Nations
in order to strengthen global democracy.
The current leader of the ALDE Group in
the European Parliament is Guy Verhofstadt,
former Belgian Prime Minister and ALDE party
nominee for President of the European Commission.
A
LDE promotes free trade and a fully functioning European Single Market. Its economic and market policies are based on the liberal belief that individual economic and political
freedoms are the best assurance for the future
economic well-being of the European Union and
its citizens. Free trade and better conditions for
global trade are among the hallmarks of the party’s goals. The recent EP decision to end roaming
European Election 2014: Parties, manifestos and candidates
fees is perceived also as a success for ALDE.
Along with the focus on competitiveness
and full economic integration, the party calls for
fiscal discipline by European states to tackle the
ongoing economic crisis and strengthen the European Union for the future.
nently in the party’s foreign policy agenda. These
countries are repeatedly criticised for their bad
human rights track records, and in the case of
Iran, European liberals have in the past called
for tougher sanctions on the country due to faltering nuclear talks.
C
I
oncerning issues of European democracy,
the party has remained true to its Stuttgart
declaration of 1976, calling for a democratic
constitution along with empowerment of the European Parliament.
In accordance with this, the ALDE party
wants to make the European Commission to be
accountable to the European Parliament. Regional cultures and minorities are to be protected to ensure that European diversity is secured
for the future. Human rights and liberal democratic ideals are also at the centre of ALDE party
foreign policy views.
Therefore, concerning for instance arms
trade, the ALDE party calls for high standards
of human rights in any state that wishes to buy
arms. EU member-states should insist on the
protection of individual rights when talking
about arms deals and in case high standards are
not met, weapons should not be sold.
China, Russia and Iran often feature promi-
n recent years, liberal parties across Europe
have lost much of their past influence. The case
is especially dramatic in Germany, where the
liberal FDP lost its seats in the federal elections
last September for the very first time. The belief
in the capabilities of the free market has been
damaged due to the economic crisis of the past
years and liberals in the European Union have
struggled to make a positive case and adapt their
policies to new circumstances and to propose a
new agenda.
Where liberal ideals have been pushed
through, this has often happened within coalition governments where the larger partners have
tended to successfully claim responsibility for
some of the more positive results. It remains to
be seen whether or not the ALDE party will manage to combine its pro-European integration and
democracy outlook with policies for successful
sustainable economic development.
PDU Reader 1/2014
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By Roisin Berghaus
Greens/European
Free Alliance
The Greens/EFA are one of the most pro-EU groups in the European
Parliament today, yet polls suggest they may not fare well in the coming election.
T
he Greens/European Free Alliance fraction
was founded in 1999 as the successor of the
former Green Group and Radical Alliance. The
group is composed of parties representing green
politics on the one hand, and progressive regionalist and minority politics parties on the other
hand. The two Pirate MEPs elected in Sweden
in 2009 also became members of this faction.
Currently, the party has 58 MEPs. Germany and
France sent the largest numbers of MEPs to this
group in 2009, voting in 15 and 14 representatives
respectively.
The group publishes manifestos prior to European elections. The policies in their 2014 manifesto include the following:
European Governance
T
he Greens/EFA acknowledge that there is a
democratic deficit in EU institutions. They
believe this deficit can be overcome by giving
greater power to the European Parliament and
promoting the use of the European Citizens’ Initiative to introduce new legislation.
The group is in favour of greater European
integration insofar as this leads to greater transparency and citizen participation in EU affairs.
They support the election of the European Ombudsman, as well as that of the Commission
14
President by the Parliament. The group is also
in favour of EU-wide lists for Parliament elections.
Economic Policy
The Greens/EFA advocate for a new economic model in Europe which they refer to as the
“Green economy.” This model is similar to other
social welfare models in that it supports the continuation of social and public services, higher taxes and stronger regulation of large corporations,
and job security. In addition, the party is in favour
of a financial transaction tax, arguing that such a
system will help curb certain forms of financial
speculation.
Their green economy model differs from
standard social welfare models, though, in that it
puts a stronger emphasis on the “physical limits
of our planet.” The party is against development
in sectors that would cause environmental degradation, and instead aims to fund research, development, and sustainable jobs in the green energy
sector.
Internal Policy
B
ecause the Greens/EFA are in favour of greater EU integration, it comes as no surprise
European Election 2014: Parties, manifestos and candidates
that they wish to see a more far-reaching European internal policy.
Most notably, the faction aims to develop a
common asylum system to replace the current
Dublin Regulations. The party emphasizes that
such a system should be humane and efficient,
and should thus eliminate the use of detention
camps in some EU Member States.
The group is also for a strong online data protection policy. This policy should focus on protecting individuals’ right to privacy and also ensure the sanctity of intellectual property in digital
formats.
As the name suggests, the party advocates
stronger policies to combat climate change. The
party would like to see a stronger emphasis on
initiatives like Energy2020. In addition, the party
supports initiatives that promote biodiversity, as
well as the protection of waterways and forested
areas. As the group contains several regionalist
parties, the group is also for greater EU involvement in regional development projects.
External Policy
T
he Greens/EFA believe the EU should “play
a more active role at its doorstep and in the
world, promoting peace and in preventing the
need for military intervention.” The fraction is
thus in favour of greater EU-level coordination
of armies in peacekeeping efforts. They also emphasize that the European Parliament should have
power to debate Europe’s involvement in military
operations.
The group also emphasizes the importance of
promoting human rights overseas. The group sees
a greater deployment of aid to developing countries as fundamental to the EU’s goals. As a collection of Green parties, the group is for nuclear
disarmament.
Prospects in the 2014 Election
C
urrent polls suggest that the Greens/EFA will
drop to 47 seats in the next election. In this
scenario, they would tie with the United Left as
the fourth largest party in Parliament. Notably, polls conducted in the last two months have
shown them winning between 40 and 50 seats,
which suggests that there has been relatively little
change in voter intentions since the election campaign began.
Whether the Greens/EFA will gain more seats
cannot be fully determined prior to the election.
What is certain is that this group supports greater
EU integration as a means to overcome the democratic deficit. As such, this is one of the most proEU groups in the Parliament today.
PDU Reader 1/2014
15
By Veronika Czina
Confederal Group of the European United Left / Nordic Green Left
GUE/NGL, the second smallest group in the European Parliament,
uses confederalism as the basic principle for its functioning.
G
UE/NGL is the abbreviation for ‘Confederal
Group of the European United Left / Nordic Green Left.’ The name of the political group
already suggests that it consists of several different parties which fight for the representation
of comprehensive leftist values in the European
Union.
The party group was established in its current form in 1995, but its origins stretch back to
1989, when four leftist parties created the GUE
group, the predecessor of today’s GUE/NGL.
Throughout its 25 year history, the group has always consisted of parties of mostly socialist and
communist orientation. Currently the group has
35 MEPs from 15 Member States and 18 political parties who believe that ‘Another Europe is
possible’. Their main principle of functioning is
confederalism, which for them means respecting the diversity of the members’ opinions.
W
hen it comes to GUE/NGL and their
views on specific policy areas we should
begin with social policy. The party group’s main
16
beliefs and goals are connected to solidarity,
equality and social stability.
In their program they put a huge emphasis
on workers’ rights and they fight for achieving
minimum income schemes across Europe which
would be based on at least 60% of the median
income in each country.
Their principles include reducing poverty,
saving the homeless and providing equal rights
for minorities. They would like to pay special attention to the most disadvantaged layers of society, such as the young people, and marginalized
people, like asylum seekers.
G
UE/NGL see the EU as the motor of the
current global economic, financial and environmental crises, therefore they denounce
the market-oriented logic of competition both
within the Union and in relation to other countries. This is why it comes as no surprise that the
group is fully against creating the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership with the
USA, against which its MEPs protested in the
European Election 2014: Parties, manifestos and candidates
European Parliament.
Moreover, the group backed the creation
of a study which aims at shattering the myths
around the TTIP and tries to reveal its disadvantages. The group also opposes the privatisation of the commons, and they denounce the
austerity regime which they claim proves that
the prevailing neoliberal economic architecture
failed.
A tax on financial transactions and capital
would be possible ways out of the crisis. They
also support the establishment of a strict democratic control over the European Central Bank
because they want an ECB ‘which benefits the
economy and society, not financial speculation.’
T
hey see the EU2020 Strategy as inefficient
and a means of leading to more concentration of wealth. They would rather see the
achievement of a smart, sustainable and inclusive growth through concentrating more money
on environmental causes.
The group was dissatisfied with the reduction of the money allocated to the Common
Agricultural Policy in the budget, because they
urge for a green CAP reform; agriculture should
be a sustainable sector, where the needs of small
and medium farmers are satisfied. GUE/NGL
says no to GMOs and cloning and they urge labelling all the animals fed with GMOs.
T
he party dreams of a more human, more
transparent and tangible Europe which is
based on democracy and the active participation of its citizens. Instead of being the project
of the elites, they want to bring the EU closer
to the people. They also fight for human rights,
denouncing fascism and racism.
As a small and radical left-wing party, GUE/
NGL is not majorly influential in the EU, but they
try to make their voices heard when it comes to
issues which are crucial to them (e.g. TTIP). The
group does not have a candidate for the post of
European Commission President.
PDU Reader 1/2014
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By Roisin Berghaus
Europe of Freedom
and Democracy
EFD, a right-wing Eurosceptic group is gaining ground, but has few
clear policies aside from Euroscepticism.
E
urope of Freedom and Democracy (EFD) is
a right-wing and highly Eurosceptic political group. It was founded in 2009 and largely replaced the Independence/Democracy and
Union for a Europe of Nations groups that were
dissolved that year. The political group consists
of ten political parties. The UK Independence
Party (UKIP) and the Italian Northern League
represent the largest political parties in the fraction, with eleven and nine seats respectively. The
group has two co-chairs, Nigel Farage (UKIP)
and Francesco Speroni (Northern League).
Notably, although the group is known for its
strong Euroscepticism and tendencies toward
far-right nationalism, it does not represent the
interests of more pronounced nationalist and
racist parties such as Marie Le Pen’s Front National (FN) or Geert Wilders’s Dutch Freedom
Party (PVV). The group has also twice rejected
applications from the Freedom Party of Austria
(FPÖ) to unite with them.
Identifying EFD’s policies requires a large
amount of guesswork, as this group will not publish a manifesto prior to the election. The par-
18
ty has not even held a campaign convention to
prepare for the upcoming election. However, a
few common goals are elucidated on the group’s
website:
European Governance
T
he fraction is strongly opposed to further
European integration, and, as they call it “the
creation of a single centralised European superstate.” Their reasoning behind this stems from
their conviction that “there is no such thing as
a single European people.” Instead, they support
an increasingly sovereign Member State model,
where countries “co-operate” with each other yet
retain control over their own internal and external policy.
The group is also in favour of treaty changes
solely through the ratification through referendum by every Member State. This, they assert,
will offer a solution to the democratic deficit currently seen in EU institutions.
As an extension of EFD’s rejection of greater
European integration, the group does not have a
European Election 2014: Parties, manifestos and candidates
parliamentary whip. This means that MEPs are
free to vote how they please on motions arising
in parliament.
Internal Policy
E
FD believes that Member States should “protect their borders.” This can clearly be interpreted as a rejection of the Schengen Zone and
possibly of the four freedoms guaranteed in the
Lisbon Treaty, though the group’s position on the
eurozone is unclear.
The group advocates that Member States
should be free to maintain their unique “historical, traditional, religious and cultural values.”
At the same time, the group claims to be against
“xenophobia, anti-Semitism and any other form
of discrimination.” This may present the group
with a challenge on how to respond to Member
State policies that are openly discriminatory yet
allegedly a reflection of traditional or cultural
values.
Perhaps in an expression of this commitment
against racism, though, the party has distanced
itself from more extremist nationalist parties
from countries such as France and Hungary.
Prospects in the EP Election
R
ecent reports have suggested that EFD will
gain seats, especially in the UK, in the upcoming election. A recent YouGov poll showed
them winning as much as 31 percent of the British popular vote. At the same time, though, EFP
might be under threat. A potential rival group
consisting of more openly nationalist parties
such as the FN, the PVV, the FPÖ, the Flemish
Vlaams Belang (VB), the Swedish Democrats,
and even the Italian Northern League may form
instead.
Though the future of EFD is, at the moment,
uncertain, it nevertheless appears that extremist,
anti-EU sentiment may gain a stronghold in two
weeks. For those who wish for a more cooperative and unified Europe, voting for vehemently
nationalist and Eurosceptic parties is clearly not
an option.
PDU Reader 1/2014
19
One Future. One Europe.
@PDUrope
www.democraticunion.eu