EPP Political Assembly prepares for 2019 European elections, talks about fighting populism and accepts new member parties
05. December 2017
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In view of the upcoming European elections in 2019, European People’s Party (EPP) members decided to organise its Spitzenkandidat election Congress in Finland next year, co-hosted by our Finnish member party Kokoomus. In addition, EPP members agreed to hold important political events in 2018 and 2019 in Poland to strongly support our Polish member party Civic Platform and that the 2019 party Congress will take place in Croatia, co-hosted by our Croatian member HDZ.
“The EPP is committed to the Spitzenkandidat process. We are moving ahead with the preparations for the European elections and we will elect the EPP Spitzenkandidat in November next year in Finland. We will lead a campaign of policies. This is why we debated populism in our political assembly today and adopted 8 resolutions on topics where we can make a difference for the European people such as combatting Islamist terrorism and the digitalisation of our societies,” said EPP President Joseph Daul at the meeting.
The Political Assembly also featured an in-depth debate to counter the rise of populist parties with speakers Professor Žiga Turk (Slovenia), Former Minister for Growth and Former Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports and Benjamin Dalle (Belgium), Director of Ceder.
Following the debate, EPP President Joseph Daul made the following statement:
“Concrete results will overcome the empty promises of populists. We need to bring solutions to the problems faced by our citizens. This is the way to counter the fables of the populists. We need to remain focused on where the European Union makes a difference for European citizens. It is also our duty to reconnect with the European people and better explain our achievements.”
The EPP also accepted and welcomed two new observer member parties from Moldova, Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS) as well as Dignity and Truth Platform Political Party (PPDA), into its family.
The members of the Political Assembly adopted 8 resolutions to improve European citizens’ lives:
- Resolution on combatting Islamist terrorism and protecting our way of life, with concrete proposals such as stepping-up cooperation between EU Member States and the Radicalisation Awareness Network’s Centre of Excellence, by exchanging data and adopting a common approach on returning foreign fighters and agreeing to a common European definition of ‘illegal content’ on the internet.
- Resolution on the digital transformation in Europe: time to focus on citizens to prepare the work force for the rapidly evolving labour-market needs brought about by the digital economy.
- Resolution on ethical behaviour in politics — a responsibility for all members of the EPP, announcing the establishment of an Ethics Committee and a code of conduct.
- Resolution on addressing the challenges of fake news with a range of measures and solutions to tackle fake news, but without hampering the freedom of expression.
- Resolution Democracy, Quo Vadis, calling on, among others, the Member States to ensure adequate civic and political education as well as training in digital skills and media literacy.
- Resolution on violence against women, stressing the need for EPP member parties to actively confront violence against women and sexual harassment.
- Resolution on strengthening the centre (“middle class”) – the cornerstone of Europe to boost employment, to strengthen inclusiveness and establish fair taxation.
- Resolution North Korea’s actions as the threat to global peace and security, calling on the European Union to strengthen restrictive measures against the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and its authorities to stop its nuclear program.
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For more information contact:
Alexandra Henman
Deputy Spokesperson
+32 471 90 76 84
alh@epp.eu
Angelos Athanasopoulos
National and Regional Press Director
+32 471 90 76 35aa@epp.eu
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The EPP Manifesto outlines the basic principles of the Party summarising who we are, what our values are, what challenges are we facing and what vision we have for the future. The Manifesto was developed in parallel to the EPP Platform document within the EPP Working Group 1 for “European Policy”.
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The EPP Platform is the core programme of our party outlining our main values, explaining the challenges our society is facing and presenting our vision for the future of European Union.
The EPP Platform is the core programme of our party outlining our main values, explaining the challenges our society is facing and presenting our vision for the future of European Union.
The Party Platform was developed in EPP Working Group 1 for “European Policy” chaired by EPP President Wilfried MARTENS ?and EPP Vice President Peter HINTZE. The Working Group consists of delegates of EPP member parties who prepared and worked?on this document for more than two years and received input?from the drafting committee as well as senior and young experts. The document was adopted at the 2012 EPP Congress in Bucharest, thus replacing the Basic Programme of Athens from 1992.
