Sven Giegold

The pro-European party CDU says farewell to European democracy

CDU Chairwoman Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer (AKK) has outlined guidelines for her European policy in a guest article in the newspaper Die Welt. She called for intergovernmentalism and the European community method to be regarded as equal.

MEP Sven Giegold, financial and economic policy spokesperson of the Greens/EFA group commented:

“This is a breach of tradition that has the potential to weaken Europe in the long run. New intergovernmentalism means more back rooms and less transparent decisions in Europe comprehensible to the citizens. All German federal governments have always supported the European Community method and defended the rights of the European Parliament. Now Kramp-Karrenbauer is saying goodbye to the most important pillar of European democracy in the name of the pro-Europe CDU party. Equating the European Community method with intra-European intergovernmentalism is a serious mistake. In doing so, AKK is in fact also abandoning the goal of European federalism. The AfD is running for the European Parliament, which it ironically wants to abolish. It is bitter that the CDU now aims to structurally weaken the European Parliament rather than strengthen it.

I expect Manfred Weber, as a candidate for the president of the EU Commission, to stand unequivocally behind European democracy. The defence of Europe as a community of rights begins in the own party family. New intergovernmentalism within the European treaties is also legally permissible only in exceptional cases. Manfred Weber must now clearly assert himself within the CDU and CSU and defend European law with its Community method. This is a test case for his ability to act as a guardian of the Treaties”.

The text by Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer can be found here: https://www.welt.de/politik/deutschland/article190037115/AKK-antwortet-Macron-Europa-richtig-machen.html

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