Europe’s Largest Party’s Big Bash: Who Came Out on Top — and Who Didn’t

Far-right leaders across the European Union are likely celebrating as the center-right European People’s Party (EPP) singles them out as public enemy No. 1. Rather than feeling threatened, politicians like France’s Marine Le Pen, Germany’s Alice Weidel of the Alternative for Germany (AfD), and Hungary’s media-savvy Prime Minister Viktor Orbán may view this as a political gift, boosting their visibility ahead of key electoral battles.

The Biggest Setbacks

Ursula von der Leyen’s Green Deal Vision

Ursula von der Leyen’s signature climate initiative was under heavy fire throughout the latest EPP gathering. While party leaders maintained that climate change remains a priority, they fiercely attacked the European Green Deal as a threat to jobs and industrial competitiveness.

“Where would our industry and jobs be today if we hadn’t stopped the ideological climate policy à la Frans Timmermans?” asked EPP chief Manfred Weber, directly criticizing the former Green Deal commissioner. He touted the EPP’s role in slowing down and reshaping environmental legislation, distancing the party from some of the Commission’s more ambitious green goals.

Back in Brussels, a spokesperson for Von der Leyen, Paula Pinho, defended the Green Deal, reiterating the Commission president’s commitment and calling it one of her key achievements.

The Strained Centrist Coalition

Tensions are running high within the EU’s centrist power bloc—an uneasy alliance of the EPP, Socialists, and Liberals. Despite their critical role in maintaining majority power, cooperation between these groups has grown increasingly fractious.

Weber didn’t hold back in his critique, accusing the Socialists of abandoning blue-collar workers and blaming liberal and Green parties for appealing only to elite, urban voters. He suggested that this disconnect from the broader electorate has fueled the rise of the far-right.

The Migrant Question

The EPP also hardened its line on migration policy. At its party congress, the group adopted a resolution calling for asylum-seekers arriving from “safe third countries” to be blocked from entering the EU, and for asylum procedures to be carried out outside EU borders.

This stance echoed Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s controversial approach of outsourcing asylum processing to Albania—implicitly endorsed in the EPP’s new platform. The tougher messaging reflects a broader shift to the right as migration remains a hot-button issue ahead of key EU elections.