The European Union must deliver on its policies, and democratic, centrist groups must project a vision on how to tackle the rise of extremism, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said at a joint press briefing in Madrid with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez on Monday, according to Euractiv.
When asked about the surge of the far-right in Europe, von der Leyen argued that to counter the “extremist” forces, both left and right, it is “important for us [EU] to deliver on our policies.”
Spain, taking the helm of the six-month EU Council Presidency on 1 July ahead of the European elections in June 2024, will be working to advance contentious files such as the fiscal rules reform, the Migration and Asylum Pact, and the MFF revision.
“We, the democratic groups of the centre, we have to show that we have a clear idea how we want to address the change that is happening,” von der Leyen said at the joint press conference.
Recent polls suggest that the right-wing ECR group will have 83 seats in the European Parliament, increasing its count from currently 66. The far-right Identity and Democracy (ID) Group is set to win 69 seats, slightly more than its current 62 seats.
“Climate change is a fact. We have an idea, we have a vision on how to address it and tackle the difficulties […] you can have prosperity while protecting nature and the environment”, she added, sending a message to her own party.
Von der Leyen’s centre-right EPP has recently adopted a harsher stance against key Green Deal legislative files, namely the nature restoration law, in attempts to close ranks with nationalist conservative ECR ahead of the 2024 European elections.
“We have to deliver on our policies and show that we have a vision and an idea how to tackle the problems of change that happen, but also to turn them into opportunities”, von der Leyen added.
Faced with the same question, Sánchez rejected answering by arguing that it had a “national politics derivative” instead of focusing on the meeting between the Commission and Spain’s government.
Ahead of Spain’s general elections on 23 July, Sánchez faces a two-block neck-to-neck race between far-right VOX (ECR) and centre-right PP (EPP), and his own party PSOE (S&D) and leftist SUMAR (EU Left/Greens).