German FDP, SPD kick off EU election campaigns amid declining ratings

The German liberal FDP and social democrat SPD gathered on Sunday to pass their programmes for the upcoming EU election, as both parties struggle to mobilise voters amidst declining poll ratings.

The two parties, which are together in a coalition, passed their respective manifestos and confirmed their lead candidates for the upcoming EU election at the party congresses on Sunday (28. January).

“In my view, this is a very important election. Because what we are experiencing here in Germany: The rise of right-wing populists from parties campaigning against Europe,” Chancellor Olaf Scholz said at the SPD conference of European delegates.

According to Scholz, there is only one way to counter this development: “vote for Katarina Barley and the SPD,” he stated.

Both parties are currently struggling with one of the lowest approval ratings in their respective party history, with the SPD presently polling at only 13.5%. In comparison, the FDP fell below the 5% mark, according to Europe Elects.

Against this backdrop, SPD, in particular, has placed its bet on making the fight against the far right one of their main election priorities.

Barley, a former minister and current vice-president of the European Parliament, was crowned as lead candidate of the SPD on Sunday. She already led her party into the European election in 2019, where she suffered a crushing defeat, and the SPD received the worst result in its history with 15.8%.

At the time, the bad result was widely explained by the second-order nature of the European elections, meaning that voters are more likely to vote for opposition parties to penalise the ruling parties because EU elections are deemed less critical. A similar fate could now repeat itself in the upcoming election.

The FDP, in particular, tried to downplay this possibility.

“The European elections are not a second-order election where you go if you want to give a government or any party a little lesson. The European elections are really about our common future,” Finance Minister and FDP helm Christian Lindner said at the Europe Party Congress.

Fighting the “Green Commission President”

While the SPD made the fight against the rise of the far right one of their priorities, the FDP primarily tried to discredit Commission President Ursula von der Leyen for creating a system of “bureaucracy madness”.

“Ms von der Leyen is organising this Europe into madness. The bureaucracy is working so diligently under Ms. von der Leyen that innovative companies will soon have to go on the dole,” FDP lead candidate Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann said.

“And therefore, I repeat, less von der Leyen, more freedom. That must be the message in the coming months,” she added.

FDP general secretary Bijan Djir-Sarai even went one step further, calling von der Leyen “the Green Commission president”.

“We also do not want a Europe where a Green Commission President, who is a member of the CDU, but nevertheless a Green Commission President, makes ideological policy,” he told FDP delegates.

The FDP has recently increasingly lamented about the high burden EU regulations are placing on businesses, arguing that around 57% of bureaucracy in Germany currently comes from the EU.

The centre-right European Peoples Party (EPP), that von der Leyen will likely lead into the upcoming EU election, will also make the cutting of red tape one of their main focal points, a leaked draft of their election manifesto reveals – thereby rivalling the approach of the FDP.

The SPD, on the other hand, slammed their liberal coalition partner for their push to cut red tape.

“Reducing bureaucracy is your favourite word,” she said. “But when they talk about this, it’s often really about reducing protective regulations for employees and the environment,” she added, naming the slow death of the platform workers directive as being one of the recent examples of an FDP blockade.

EU election: German liberals to compete with conservatives on anti-bureaucracy platform

The German liberal party, the FDP, is pushing to cut red tape at the EU level in its campaign for the European elections, rivalling the conservative CDU/CSU (EPP) which wants to move Europe “from the Green Deal to an Economic Deal”.

The “enemies within the EU”

Another major point for the SPD is the fight against illiberal tendencies within the bloc, with Barley naming Victor Orbán “the biggest enemy from within” who is boycotting the EU from Hungary.

“He is currently blackmailing the European Union with his blockades,” the former German justice minister Barley stated.

“Orbán has restructured Hungary so that he can never again be ousted from power through elections. And he is lining his pockets with taxpayers’ money,” she told her party delegates, accusing the European Commission of acting too “timidly and too inconsistently” when it comes to standing up to the Hungarian prime minister.

Earlier this month, the European Parliament already threatened to sue the Commission over the unfreezing of EU funds and called for a procedure that would strip Hungary of its voting rights within the EU.

Many lawmakers accused the Commission of unfreezing the funds in return for Hungary not blocking the opening of accession negotiations with Ukraine – a criticism that was also reiterated by the liberal FDP.

Strack Zimmermann not only called on the European Commission to strip Hungary of its voting rights but also slammed von der Leyen for issuing a “€10 billion blank cheque” to Orbán for him to abstain from blocking the decision.

[Edited by Alice Taylor]

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