Suchergebnisse

The division of powers in the federally structured European Union, the lack of fixed political coalitions, the absence of effective control of voting behaviour in the European Parliament by parliamentary group leaderships and the structure of European political parties as alliances of national parties make European elections systemically specific. In the 2024 European elections, the lead candidate system for the President of the European Commission is back. This may contribute to increased voter participation and be successful if the informal preconditions for the candidates are met during nomination. During the phase leading up to the election of the President of the Commission, the Parliament achieves maximum leverage. Political forces that endanger the existing conditions of the system itself, should be categorized as extreme and be opposed by the political mainstream.

The party-political structure in Europe is in full transition, with a slow, but consistent strengthening of the right and extreme right on the continent. This poses important questions, not only about the political dividing lines that separate these spaces, but also about what constitutes the dividing line that sets the European People's Party apart from both. The key argument is that the European People's Party can be understood as the political space that defends European integration, the transatlantic partnership and the democratic order that was established after 1945, and is the political project for reconciliation in society, reconciling the seemingly irreconcilable through concepts such as the social market economy, subsidiarity, personalism and federalism. Sustainability across policy areas, reconciling the present and the future, is thus the necessary complement.