European Parliament Election: May 23-26, 2019

[Velasco]

Pablo Bustinduy will top the Unidos Podemos list in thr EP elections. Bustinduy is a young oolical scientist (aged 35) with a quite impressive academic curriculum alligned with the Errejon faction. He is member of the Congress of Deputies for Madrid and the UP spokesman in the Foreign Affairs Committee. Podemis leader Pablo Iglesias was candidate in 2014 (Podemos got 8% starting ftom scratch, while the IU list got 10%).

PSOE  hired French-Algerian political scientist, philosopher and sociologist Sami Nair, who is a renowned migration expert. He was a French PS MEP between 1999 and 2004. Sami Nair was one if the experts hired by Pedro Sánchez to draft the PSOE platform for the 2015 elections. He will be in an electable position in the PSOE list. Possible top candidates, according to El Mundo, are ministers Josep Borrell (Foreign Affairs) or Nadia Calviño (Economy).

[Velasco]

Pablo Bustinduy will top the Unidos Podemos list in thr EP elections. Bustinduy is a young oolical scientist (aged 35) with a quite impressive academic curriculum alligned with the Errejon faction. He is member of the Congress of Deputies for Madrid and the UP spokesman in the Foreign Affairs Committee. Podemis leader Pablo Iglesias was candidate in 2014 (Podemos got 8% starting ftom scratch, while the IU list got 10%).

PSOE  hired French-Algerian political scientist, philosopher and sociologist Sami Nair, who is a renowned migration expert. He was a French PS MEP between 1999 and 2004. Sami Nair was one if the experts hired by Pedro Sánchez to draft the PSOE platform for the 2015 elections. He will be in an electable position in the PSOE list. Possible top candidates, according to El Mundo, are ministers Josep Borrell (Foreign Affairs) or Nadia Calviño (Economy).

Wait so Miguel Urban (from the far left anticapitalist branch of the party) is retiring?

Also, for PSOE I don't ser Borrell as a candidate, (again, remember he was already PSOE EU leader in 2004). Maybe Calviño will, but what about Iratxe García, their current EU leader?

I think Miguel Urban will be in the list, but not on the top. Podemos held primaries recently to elect Pablo Iglesias as candidate for the genral elections and Bustinduy was elected top EP candidate in the same day. The Unidos Podemos list will include as well people from IU, ICV (MEP Ernest Urtadun) and BComu (possibly deputy mayor of Barcelona Gerardo Pisarello)

As for the PSOE,  I've read that Pedro Sánchez wants Josep Borrell as top candidate for the EP elections, but it's too early. Borrell and other PSOE veterans already rejected to run in the Madrid local elections, but this is a very different contest.

Borrell was President of the European Parliament between 2004 and 2007, so he would be a very high profile candidate

[Velasco]

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More information. They have at least my signature, but i'm undecided whether to support them or GUE-NGL (PVDA). Most likely, they won't get on the ballot here. Otherwise, i might support them. They have good proposals & ideas.

I could vote for them, since they have an associated 'party' in Spain called Actúa.  Anyway I think casting a ballot for the Varoufakis artifact is a waste and the Actúa project doesn't raise my enthusiasm. On the other hand, I don't think there is a great difference between the 'European Spring'* platform and those of GUE-NGL or Greens-EFA and the two latter incorporate electorally viable parties across Europe.

*There was a Spanish list called Primavera Europea ("European Spring") running in the 2014 EP elections. The list incorporated Equo (a small green party operating throughout Spain), Compromis (a left wing coalition operating in the Valencia region) and a bunch of tiny regional and local parties. Primavera Europea won a seat and I voted for that list.

[Velasco]

Worth noting that this time Primavera Europea only includes regional parties (Compromis-NCa-Mes-ChA).

So this time a vote for them is pretty much a vote for Compromis (the other 3 aren't getting seats)

I like Mónica Oltra and some of the folks at Compromís, but possibly I'll vote for another list in the May elections. Maybe Unidos Podemos, in case Pablo Bustinduy is still the candidate. 

[Velasco]

Spain

Carles Puidemont, the ousted Catalan premier, will run in EP elections, on the top of the JvCAT list (Junts per Catalunya, Together for Catalonia)

https://www.politico.eu/article/puigdemont-carles-former-catalan-leader-to-run-in-eu-election-may/

Former Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont announced Sunday he will run in May's European Parliament election.

“It is time to step forward to internationalize the right to self-determination in Catalonia from the heart of Europe for the whole world,” Puigdemont tweeted.

Puigdemont, who went into self-imposed exile in Belgium in 2017 after the regional parliament declared independence, will be the lead candidate for his pro-independence Junts per Catalunya (Together for Catalonia) party, according to the party's website.

Madrid ousted Puigdemont and his government to impose direct rule following the independence declaration, and he still faces charges of rebellion for his role in the separatist push if he returns to Spain.

Besides that desire to "internationalize the conflict", this move is motivated by the tough rivalry between the main Catalan nationalist parties. Carles Puigdemont will compete against ERC leader Oriol Junqueras, who made a previous announcement. The ousted deputy premier will be the ERC candidate in the EP elections, as well as the "symbolic candidate" of the European Free Alliance (EFA) and the candidate in the Spanish general elections. Junqueras is the starring figure of the undergoing trial to the Catalan separatist leaders. Puigdemont is currently living in Waterloo, in the environs of Brussels.

According to Spanish polls, ERC is currently well ahead of the JxCAT/PDeCAT rivals.

[Velasco]

Spain

Carles Puidemont, the ousted Catalan premier, will run in EP elections, on the top of the JvCAT list (Junts per Catalunya, Together for Catalonia)

https://www.politico.eu/article/puigdemont-carles-former-catalan-leader-to-run-in-eu-election-may/

According to Spanish polls, ERC is currently well ahead of the JxCAT/PDeCAT rivals.

Worth noting that there is already a precedent for this.

In 1989 businessman Jose Maria Ruiz Mateos was elected to the European parliament and got immunity even though he was under search and capture.

I don't know if legal requirements were different when Ruiz Mateos was elected, but according to the news it's unlikely that Puigdemont takes office and can return to Catalonia.

In case of being elected, Puigdemont must go to Madrid to comply with the Spanish Constitution at the parliament house in a session of the central electoral commission (Junta Electoral Central, JEC) that takes place on July 13. Otherwise he could not get his seat in the European Parliament. The problem is that Puigdemont could be arrested before, because legal immunity only comes into effect when he takes office. In case he doesn't go to Madrid on that date in July, the seat would be declared vacant until he complies in person on a later date or resigns in favour of the second in the list.

In related news, the PNV has suspended the decision to run in coalition with JxCAT. In previous EP elections the Basque Nationalists ran in a joint ticket with CiU, their traditional counterparts in Catalonia. The PNV wants to know what are the Puigdemont's intentions before making a decision. The relationship between the PNV leadership and Puigdemont cooled down after the events in October 2017.

[Velasco]

Spain

PNV breaks the alliance with the PDeCAT for the European elections due to "incompatibility" with a list led by Carles Puigdemont. Basque nationalists "accept and respect" the decision of the Puigdemont's party to run a campaign focused on the Catalan process to independence.

Pablo Bustinduy gives up the Unidas Podemos candidacy alleging personal reasons. He will be replaced by María Eugenia Rodríguez Palop, a Human Rights Professor. Apparently Bustinduy will continue in charge of the Podemos' international secretariat. The resigned candidate is a member of the Errejón faction and one of the few supporters of the former next-in-line remaining in the party. However the Podemos leadership appreciates very much his work in Congress as spokesman for foreign policy affairs, particularly his interventions on the Venezuela crisis.

[Velasco]

CIS poll for the EP elections in Spain

PSOE 29-31% 17-18 seats
PP 18-20% 11-12 seats
Cs 14-16% 8-9 seats
UP 13-15% 8 seats
VOX 7-9% 4-5 seats
ERC+EH Bildu+Others 5-7% 3 seats
JxCAT 1-3% 1 seat
PNV+Others 1-3% 1 seat

Fieldwork was conducted before general elections.

[Velasco]

Spain: 40dB poll for El País

PSOE 28.9% 17 seats
PP 18.9% 11 seats
Cs 16.1% 9 seats
UP 14.8% 8-9 seats
VOX 8.4% 4-5 seats
ERC+EH Bildu+BNG 5 5% 3 seats
JxCAT 2 5% 1 seat

[Velasco]

Razem just got the biggest amount of media coverage since last parliamentary elections because Pamela Anderson endorsed them on Twitter.

It's 4,9% time.

Wow, that's something

[Velasco]

HUGE enthusiastic crowd at the FPÖs closing event in Vienna right now.

It’s possible that the FPÖ will not lose as much as the scandal would suggest ...

I'm not sure why you think the Ibiza scandal really would suggest a collapse in the FPO. The kinds of people who vote FPO would hardly be scandalized by Russophilia, and indeed would view the scandal as vindication that the mainstream in their country is really out to get them (and obviously they are). The quaint world of the far right is totally self-confirmatory. That's why it's hard to beat them.

I wonder if far right voters in Austria or elsewhere realize of the huge ironic charge contained in the Ibiza scandal. I mean, the FPO folks are jingoist national-populists revealing they are ready to sell the beloved fatherland to spurious foreign interests. At the end, those vociferous 'patriots' are only in it for the money. It's vulgar and predictable.

[Velasco]

Has anyone posted the Spanish results? Right now PSOE is the largest socialdemocratic party in Europe. That's something if you consider that few years ago there was people speculating on the PSOE as the new PASOK

[Velasco]

The list I voted for (Hamon's Génération.s) won 3.3%. That's better than I expected honestly.

And in Italy?

It's illegal to vote in two different countries for European elections.

If I'd voted in Italy I guess I would have voted for the "united" leftist list, which got 1.7% (which is a stunningly bad result even by the standards of the Italian left). Or possibly Bonino's list to own the Euroskeptics, although she's way to my right economically (it got 3%).

It's been pretty disastrous across the board for the True Left - Melenchon's bunch humbled, Podemos crushed (Iglesias has got to be thinking of resigning, no?), Die Linke recedes, Sinn Fein wiped out, Dutch Socialists gone, Austrians, Polish and Italians nowhere to be seen, Syriza hit hard, Czech Communists on death's door etc.

The case of Podemos should be treated with the founders on the psychotherapist's couch. Pablo Iglesias has many faults, but to be honest it has to be said: a) Podemos and Iglesias are inextricably linked b) Iglesias is a man of remarkable talent who managed to save UP from disaster in the last general elections. Actually Iglesias was a dead man at the campaign start, but his good performance in debates and a turn in the last week of campaign saved his face in April. Certainly UP lost ground, but 14% of the vote and 42 seats was a result better than polls predicted. However Pablo Iglesias was not running in local, regional and EP elections. Podemos collapsed this Sunday (meanwhile his rival got a remarkable result in Madrid)  I think that Podemos does not make sense without the charismatic leader. Maybe Podemos won't be relevant anymore and the Spanish alternative left needs a process of refoundation. While the True Left crashes in Europe, the good results of green parties and Fridays for Future give me some hope. Greens have never been relevant in Spain or Italy. However, in the case of Spain, the platform of Más Madrid incorporated a lot of environmentalist elements, besides feminism and other things. Perhaps this the path to follow...

[Velasco]

Eh, while Más Madrid did incorporate environmentalist elements and was successful, Compromís also did that (with more credibility and longer running than MM) and saw a decrease in the Valencian elections, a really bad result in the general elections and only held Valencia's mayor by like 250 votes I think.

This reply fits better in the Spanish elections thread; but a couple of things

1) You forget that Manuela Carmena was elected mayor of Madrid in 2015 and implemented Madrid Central and other environmentalist measures. MM was the Carmena thing too.

2) The result of Compromis in regional elections was not so bad, given the circumstances (coincidence with general elections and bandwagon effect for PSOE). Actually it was much better than the general election result (16% to 6%). With both elections taking place simultaneously, it's obvious there was dual voting: many Compromis voters in regional elections voted UP (and PSOE to a lesser extent) in general elections. The local election results in the city of Valencia were good for Compromis (+1 councilor). Despite Compromis and PSOE increased, the mayoralty was at risk because UP collapsed and didn't reach the 5% threshold.

More on topic, the CPE list incorporating Compromis got 1 32% nationwide in EP elections and 8.36% in the Valencian Country

[Velasco]

Isn't there another place to discuss that fascinating Polish-Israeli affair? I have an opinion of their respective governments too, but the topic here is EP elections.

[Velasco]

Really disappointed ECR accept Vox though. Zarodil's pan-European ''campaign'' was actually not that bad, a sensible Eurosceptic position a lot like Rutte's. Now they accept bread and butter neo-fascist sympathisers and immature provocateurs.

I think Vox joined ECR due to the good relationship and the huge affinity that exists between the Spanish party and the PiS. They share a similar ultra-conservative social agenda.

Junts or JxCAT, the Puigdemont party, is the heir of CDC. The latter was the major partner of the CiU coalition in Catalonia and used to seat with the ALDE in the EP. Currently the Spanish represrntative in the group of the EU Liberals is Cs. However Emmanuel Macron is developing a good working relationship with Pedro Sánchez,  as both have a similar vision of Europe. The Macron people is increasingly uncomfortable with the deals between Cs, PP and Vox at regional and local levels in Spain. They tolerated the deal in Andalusia, but in case Vox enters local or regional governnents or gets more visibility, that would be more difficult to accept by the French counterparts. A LREM spokeswoman said in Paris said they could reconsider the relationship with Cs due to the deals with the far right in Spain, although she also said that Cs is still their partner and they won't make hasty decisions. Le Monde correspondent in Spain also criticized the cynical approach of Cs in its relations with Vox: oranges are no longer fooling anyone. The moves of Manuel Valls in Barcelona and his imminent rupture with Cs are not unrelated

[Velasco]

We are over one year away from the European Parliament elections throughout the EU, so it’s time for a thread!

EP elections 2024: The Revenge of the Sith

_{Also starring: Nigel Farage and Boris Johnson}

We are over one year away from the European Parliament elections throughout the EU, so it’s time for a thread!

I think it's a joke about how people on here will sometimes start a thread on an election 3 years before it's actually going to take place.

Or people like me, who do not start a thread 3 years or 4 years before an election - but who have a rolling, continued thread ...

#tenderposting

[Velasco]

LREM, the party of French president Emmanuel Macron, will demand the Cs MEPs to clarify the relationship between the Spanish allied party and Vox, reports El País. The French Secretary for European Affairs Amélie de Montchalin proposes the adoption of a "chart of common values" that excludes alliances between the member parties of ALDE / Renew Europe and the far right.

https://elpais.com/politica/2019/06/16/actualidad/1560711532_273730.html

[Velasco]

Spanish MEP Iratxe García will lead the Socialist group

https://www.politico.eu/article/bullmann-concedes-socialist-group/

Spanish MEP Iratxe García is poised to take over the leadership of the Socialist group in the European Parliament after the German incumbent, Udo Bullmann, dropped out of the race rather than face certain defeat.

 

Horribly biased sources, but it's not like there are many in English:

Pro-independence media reporting about "political prisoners" is about as biased as Madrid conservative media talking about "coup plotters" (prosecutors claim there was a "coup d'etat", too). Personally I think Junqueras and the others are not political prisoners, but their prolonged preventive detention is abusive.

Search other media in English

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jun/14/spain-blocks-catalan-leader-oriol-junqueras-joining-eu-parliament


 https://www.politico.eu/article/oriol-junqueras-spanish-court-refuses-to-let-jailed-catalan-out-of-prison-to-fill-in-mep-forms/

[Velasco]

Today, ECR held its constitutive meeting in the EP. Ryszard Legutko (PiS) and Raffaele Fitto (FdI) will co-chair the group. Vice-chairs will be Derk Jan Eppink (FVD), Daniel Hannan (Conservatives), Assita Kanko (N-VA), Peter Lundgren (Sweden Democrats), Hermann Tertsch (Vox) and Roberts Zile (National Alliance). Dutch CU are out, SGP remain in.

Hernann Tertsch has an inreresting profile. Born in 1958, he is son of the Austrian journalist and diplomat Ekkehard Tertsch and a Basque woman called Felisa del Valle-Lersundi, as well he is cousin of Loyola de Palacio (a deceased PP politician who held the agriculture portfolio with José María Aznar and was Vice-Chair of the EU Commission). Tertsch was member of the Communist Party of the Basque Country  (PCE-EPK) in his younger days. He has a long professional career as journalist, having worked in the progressive-leaning El País since 1985 (correspondent in Bonn and Warsaw, Yugoslavia conflict). His progressive turn to the right and disagreements on foreign policy led him to leave El Pais definitely by 2007. Since then he has collaborated in a wide range of conservative media, particularly in the news service of the Madrid regional TV channel, the ABC newspaper, Libertad Digital, esRadio and some others. Tertsch is a controversial personage who has protagonized many disputes and is the author of  some books (once I read something he wrote about the Balkans)

[Velasco]

Horrible decision from the EU

While I wanted Timmermans (or Vestager I guess) why kill the spitzenkandidat process just to install another CDU politician?

I'd much rather have Manfred Weber over von der Leyen; at least that would give the EU a bit more democratic legitimacy and keep the spizenkandidat process alive for a couple more years.

I can only hope the EU parliament rejects this but it's probably not happening. Only silver lining seems to be Josep Borrell as "EU Foreign minister" (basically the top diplomat). He has done a good job, but still.

Borrell is a terrible choice. Imagine him trying to call out the likes of China for their behaviour in Hong Kong? They'll just show him the pictures of Spanish police's disproportionate response to Catalan "voters" in the sham referendum.

Actually the appointment of Josep Borrell is terrible news for the Cstalan separatists. Certainly the police's disproportionate response was a shame for Spain, slthough Borrell is not personally responsible for the incompetence of the Rajoy's Interior minister. However Josep Borrell is a man with a long career in Spain and Europe, as well as one of the smartest and more consistent opponents to separatism inside Catalonia.

From the EU perspective, the appointment of Borrell reflects the increasing weight of Spain. This is partly consequence of Brexit and the populist turn in Italy. Right now the Spanish government led by Pedro Sánchez is the main ally of the German-French axis and the main counterweight to Salvini in Italy, who is alligned with Trump and Putin.

But the failure of Frans Timmermans is also a failure for Pedro Sánchez,  who is now the de facto leader of the European socialdemocracy. I think that Timmermans faced fierce opposition from Salvini and the Visegrad group.

[Velasco]

Not sure what the collaborationist, fiercely Nazi mayor of Antwerp during WWII has to do with Pedro Sanchez...

Lol I wrote "Jan" instead of "Frans". Sorry for the lapsus

[Velasco]

For the sake of gender equality I also think it is important that the Netherlands now propose a female Commissioner for VDL to pick from, not just Timmermans #EuropeIsAWoman

Glad to see you are becoming a feminist. Mrs VdL is scoring her first points in this forum, apparently

"The confidence you place in me is the confidence you place in Europe"

Split virtually 50-50 down the middle?!
5 more years of these useless Eurospeak platitudes when at least Timmermans could have been a much better communicator of the status quo and tackled the Putin wannabes in the East.

Going against the Eastern Governments would have caused the EU to split break up. The EU is a wishy-washy compromise of peoples and Governments who have completely distinct cultures, values and attitudes, especially when it comes to liberalism, climate change and immigration. Nobody gets a candidate who entirely incorporates their values. Wishy Washy, empty platitudes and bad compromises is the only way forward in Europe without splitting, even if that is often hard to swallow when from western europe.

You see, sometimes it's necessary a firm stand just because you can't go anywhere with wishy washy compromises made of platitudes. At the end trying to appease the Visegrad reactionaries will reveal useless, as immobilism only fosters disappointment and Euro-scepticism. Shaking things a bit and taking some risks is always preferable to die in slow agony. On the other hand, I think it's obvious that the EU expansion to the East was too premature. This cannot be reversed, but maybe we should begin to consider a two-speed Europe is better than the perpetuation of the status quo.

All hail the new empress VdL

[Velasco]

This is not about dictatorship vs. democracy, as the Belgian suggests. These are democratically elected governments, very popular ones by the way, that represent the values of the majority, the vast majority of people in the eastern states. It is indeed not as much a clash between governments as it is between culture and values, about what it means to be "European". When i travel from Frankfurt to Leipzig; the people, the culture, the values, it already feels like two worlds. And we are one Nation! Imagine what the disconnect is like between Amsterdam and Kraków. Two diametrically opposed cultures are clashing across Europe: Secularity vs. Christianity, Liberalism vs. Traditionalism, Internationalism vs. Nationalism and Multiculturalism vs. Ethnic Majoritarianism. Neither of these two sides is more "European" then the other, all of these Ideas are of fundamentally European origin, just from from different times, different philosophies.

I don't question these governments are democratically elected. Sure, all the countries within the European Union have different languages, cultures and historical backgrounds. All these things are worthy of respect. But I'm afraid you are advocating some sort of cultural relativism when you talk about their "different philosophies". This is not even a question of being in favour or against federalism and more integration. Europe is a continent made of diverse nations and their populations have diverse opinions and worldviews. There's nothing wrong with that, but there is a problem when certain governments try to undermine basic principles. One of the few unifying factors of the EU's supranational structure is the existence of shared democratic values. Asking governments to comply democratic standards when fundamental rights are under attack is a role the EU must assume. The defence of democratic values requires to act with the necessary firmness, because the rights of the European peoples are sacred and cannot be trampled by their governments. I'd never argue authoritarianism is in the essence of Eastern Europe, but some governments of the so-called Visegrad group have authoritarian tendencies incompatible with the EU foundational values. Neither culture nor identity issues are put under question, but the actions of said governments.

[Velasco]

.

And I don't think this is an East vs West thing. I find the Catalan crisis and its handling to be a good litmus test of Spanish democracy, and its institutions. And quite frankly it has failed miserably, with the only consolation being that swathes of Spanish people, including some of the centre-right responded by voting for the Left to try and calm the situation. And I found Timmermans' hypocrisy in glossing over the Spanish response to Catalonia while waving the rule book to the East really wanting.

I disagree partially. In my opinion, the police response on the date of the sham consultation called by separatists was awkward and disproportionate. Certainly the images of the policemen repressing the peaceful crowd going to the polls damaged the reputation of Spain. Many people  condemned and felt ashamed by the unjustifiable police brutality. However, I think that shameful brutality was the result of political incompetence rather than a proof of the authoritarian character of the Spanish State. Separatists and people supporting them try to portray Spain as an authoritarian democracy comparable to Erdogan's Turkey, but this claim cannot be taken seriously. Similarly I think the preventive detention and the criminal charges against the separatist leaders are very disproportionate, but it cannot be argued the defendants are lacking procedural guarantees. In any case I don't take offence for criticism, because it's legitimate and understandable. I have a lot of criticism myself towards the Spanish institutions, but I'd challenge anyone who dares to compare the Spanish democracy to the Turkish. Currently Spain scores as a "full democracy" in that index made by 'The Economist', but it's true that clasification could be revised due to the handling of the Catalan crisis.