Low voter turnout didn’t alter the European Parliament’s conservative stronghold

Leaders of the European Union’s political parties and in the European Parliament gathered the night of June 7 in the parliament building in Brussels to discuss – and spin – the results of the EU elections in which the 736 members of the parliament were selected. With a record-low turnout, the centre-right prevailed, as the conservative European People’s Party garnered 264 seats, far ahead of the Socialist Party, the PES, which slid to 161. They were far ahead of the next-place finishers, the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE,) which got 80 seats, and the Greens/EFA, which improved to 53 seats and showed its voice of conscience would have to be listened to in the usually pragmatic body where politics prevails over all. The EPP is far from reaching the majority threshold of 369 seats though and will be looking to make a kind of grand coalition.New Europe was there to interview the party leaders. Here are their thoughts:

The EPP rules the roost, but looks for a willing partner
Wilfried Martens, President of the EPP, and Joseph Daul, a Member of the European Parliament from France, and the party’s chairman in the body.
MARTENS:

Given that you get a coalition, what do you want the EPP to do, given an electorate that is disenfranchised and the effect of the ?

-The EC will have a president, I hope it will be Mr. Barroso, but it is also composed of a short list of liberal members. It is also a sort of coalition and we need an absolute majority in the EP. We are obliged to find a solution and an agreement between two or three political groups in the EP. For our major decisions in the European Commission, you need a majority of the component members of the parliament. Of 736, you need 369 and you need an agreement between at least two major political groups.

Which issues would you like to push for the EPP?
-The economy, climate change, common immigration competence, police reform and cooperation, uniting Europe on the international stage.
Has Europe been communicated affectively? Or does a low turnout show that people either didn’t care or didn’t know?
-There is a problem because these European elections have been organised under a national favor, mixed up with national problems. There is techno ..  it is not always transparent but I think we need Europe, the situation without economic and monetary union ...  they were saved by the Eurozone and the European Central Bank and the new policies follow of the basis of this treaty on the economic and monetary union.

What kind of weight can you bring to bear so that some of the issues you mentioned will be moved on?
-I think we need a coherent majority in the parliament and we need a more political European Commission and it is the obligation of the new president of the EC in his negotiations for the composition of the European Commission to negotiate with the heads of government to come to this smart political European Commission.

DAUL:
What do you think of the result at this moment?  What do you have to say?
-I am very happy. It looks like the centre-right party in all the countries has done very well.  Even in the anti-governmental countries, we won and the Socialist party lost.  So I am happy tonight that our work, from the men and the women, as the popular party of Europe, was chosen by the electorate who went and voted.

What surprises were remarkable?  Are there any results that you were not expecting at this time?
-We don’t like all of the results.  I think by tonight at 1 we can properly analyse the results.  Right now we only have incomplete exit polls, but I have a good feeling that the results will get better.

How will the exit of the Conservative party of England affect the next Parliament?
-We have been discussing this for a long time before the elections with Mr. Cameron (leader of the British Conservatives.) We have discussed it together, we exchanged letters, I said it is not a divorce but a friendly separation and we will continue to work together on the large Europe issues
 

ALDE’s Number 3, but it’s looking to be heard
MEP Graham Watson of the United Kingdom, leader of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) in the European Parliament.
It’s for sure that you’ll have a few extremist voices in there.  You got rid of some last year with the ITS, but now you’re going to have some more, but the difference is, they’re not outside, they’re going to be inside the parliament.  Is that voice too small to be heard, or are they going to make a ruckus for you?
-I think it will make managing the parliament more difficult, more challenging; I think it reflects the failure of European governments to deal with some of the issues that give these people publicity and support, issues such as immigration, for example.
People seem to be disaffected not just by the economy, but by the things kinds of things you just mentioned.  What’s the role of ALDE going to be in all of this? You’ve made the case that you should have a louder voice; the makeup of the parliament doesn’t quite allow that, though.
-Well I believe that we will have a louder voice.  It is true that the extremists are doing better, but it’s also true that the Liberal Democrats seem to be having a good election, and I believe that we will once again hold the balance of power in this institution, and we will continue to push for a European Union that works, and therefore deals with the challenges that people face, and that means things like a successful, a coherent policy of integration of those we bring into our society to do the jobs for which we are no longer producing young people.
 

Do you catch any grief for being someone who believes in Europe coming from a country that doesn’t?
-(Laughter) At home, certainly, but here in Brussels and elsewhere, of course, much less so.  But I believe that even in the United Kingdom, people are recognising that the European Union is essential, if we’re going to deal with challenges like climate change and energy security or world population growth and migration or international crime and terrorism; these are supra-national challenges that require supra-national responses.

The European Commission Presidency is at stake here, too. Should that be decided now or after the vote in Ireland on the Lisbon Treaty?
-Well, the Council of Ministers seems to think that we can leave the composition of the commission until after the Irish vote. In that case, why not leave the decision on the President of the commission until then?
 

Well, one follows the other.  Do you think that the Irish have been put-upon by being forced to vote again, double-jeopardy?
-No, it’s an Irish decision, it’s not a decision that anybody else has made. It’s not the first time it’s happened, it happened with the Nice Treaty, it’s happened in other countries, as well.  I think it’s up to Ireland to decide whether they want to be part of this unprecedented cooperation between countries.

For the Greens, it’s not just the environment
Riding a wave of public concern over the effects of climate change, the Green-European Freedom Alliance bloc captured 53 of the EU parliament’s 736 seats, compared with 43 spots in the last 785-seat assembly
Philippe Lambert, party spokesman

Do you think the Green New Deal has resonated with voters who’ve had it up to their eyes with the economy and the way the major parties have been running it and conducting themselves?
Well, what I can tell you is that in my country, it has resonated very strongly; it sounds like in France it has resonated as well, in Germany as well.  So I won’t say it’s a … victory in the sense that we have been able to pass a message everywhere but even in a country like Greece, where Greens were unheard of until 12 months ago, they’ve managed to snatch one or two seats. So that has resonated, I’m sure of that.  Now we have to accelerate that, but that’s a good start
 

Well a lot of supporters of yours believe the Green Party is the conscience of the European Parliament, which makes you a distinct minority. Do you feel that you’re being identified with only recycling and environmental issues and that you have much more to say?
That’s exactly what the Green New Deal is about; it’s about the economy. It’s about actually using the challenges in terms of energy of the environment of course, of biodiversity etc as the engine of economic recovery. This is exactly what we have been articulating and demonstrating as well because there are supporting facts for that. It’s only if we can really convince the voters that actually the economic future of Europe lies there, on that path, that we can really be successful. It’s no longer just about the environment, it’s about the economy
 

Isn’t it so that you can create more jobs with new environmental programmes than opponents who think that environmental causes hurt the economy?
Exactly, look at Germany. The Green coalition back in the early 2000s has embarked on the first steps of a green new deal.  ince then 300,000 jobs in renewables, 200,000 jobs in green construction. These are jobs that exist today. That’s half a million; this is not a small figure. That’s real

What are the key tenets of the Green New Deal that you espouse and would like to see established in Europe?
There are four tenets. One is investment in construction, energy, transportation, and agriculture. So these are the four areas where we need to invest heavily. Recovery money must go there. Second part is market regulation. The invisible hand is invisible for a good reason; it doesn’t exist.  So we need, especially towards the financial markets, to give simple but effective rules. Number three, it’s all about social protection but social protection that really enables people, that makes them able to play their role into this transformation. And the fourth thing is of course education research and development, which is absolutely needed, because we need the brains and the arms to make that happen. But also because, this is a cultural shift, it is a paradigm shift for all civilisation.  And so, schools have a key role to play. (California Gov. Arnold) Schwarzenegger in the US, has understood it, he wants to put that at the agenda of the schools in his state. We need to do exactly the same here