In the controversy over alleged agreements between conservative and right‑wing forces in the European Parliament, Rhineland‑Palatinate’s Minister‑President Alexander Schweitzer (SPD) says he too feels personally betrayed.
“What the European People’s Party has been doing under Manfred Weber’s leadership is a deep breach of trust” Schweitzer told the news portal T‑Online. “Many people who voted for the CDU and CSU in the European election put their faith in the statement that we would not pact with the AfD and other far‑right extremists in the Parliament”. He himself had trusted Weber’s words, and the fact that a deal in fact materialised is, in his view, a grave political mistake.
Schweitzer called the situation a “taboo breach” that harms all democrats. He now expects leaders of the CDU and CSU to issue a “clear word of power” against Weber and his Brussels allies. “The credibility of the political centre has been carelessly damaged here” he said.
He also criticized his SPD colleagues in Brussels. The EU Withdrawal Regulation, which sparked the dispute, was supposed to be a joint goal of SPD and Union. “I find it wrong that my European party colleagues block it” he said. Nevertheless, the SPD politician does not see this as a justification for the EVP’s conduct: “A failed agreement should never be a reason to engage with far‑right elements. That would be equivalent to discarding the firewalls. No, this is about a foundational consensus among democrats that has been violated”.