N. Peter Kramer’s Weekly Column
The Christian Democrats and the groups to the right of it have been of the opinion that the law goes to far. The European industry and competitiveness have to be strong stimulated and not to suffer from left-green ‘hobbies’. Changing the directive was one of the recommendations from the report by former Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi on Europe’s declining competitiveness. An important step to improve that competitiveness, according to Draghi, was to relax the anti-look-away law.
In October last year, the EPP tried to follow Draghi’s advice and proposed changes to the directive. But left and green didn’t want to hear about any substantial relaxation, no matter how much the EPP tried to get them into their camp with compromises. On the other side, right-wing parties thought the EPP proposals did not go far enough. The EPP then decided to rewrite the law in such a way that Draghi’s recommendations had been respected. Parties that agreed with it were invited to join. And see! With 382 parliamentarians out of 720, the proposal won brilliantly. The right-wing and far-right groups in the parliament voted with the EPP, as some liberals did.
The result of this political process shows that the tables are turned in the European Parliament. In the previous term (2019-2024) the largest group, the EPP (Christian Democrats), worked pragmatically with the socialists (S&D) and liberals (Renew), the self-proclaimed ‘middle’. Looking for cooperation on the right side was ‘morally not done’. But since the 2024 elections the parliament has leaned more to the right including a part of Renew. The EPP has a choice...
