Saving Europe - destroy or double-down

Published on 05/04/2019 - 14:23•Updated 16:53

From the far-right to the center - politicians are setting out their grand plans and grand rhetoric for the European Union ahead of May's elections. This week we spoke to Marine Le Pen who said to save Europe we must destroy it, while centre-right German MEP Manfred Weber has other ideas.

Next week several right-wing parties across Europe will attempt to forge an alliance ahead of the European elections.

The idea is to build a parliamentary group that could gain enough fire power to block European legislation as we know it. But there are serious obstacles.

The populists don't have a common platform, to put it mildly – their interests are diverging and their clashing personalities despise compromise.

We spoke to one of the foremost populist leaders in Europe, France's Marine Le Pen.

Here's what she had to say.

We will actually come first in the European elections. Because we represent, in actual fact, a hope for Europe. This Europe, has driven people to despair, this European Union, with its incarcerative nature, its blackmail, its threats, and then its results are again very bad.
But there is another Europe to build, and to save Europe, you have to turn away from the European Union.

Marine Le Pen

President of the National Rally

One of the populists' arch-enemies is the center-right, in other words mainstream conservatives and Christian Democrats, who are the backbone of the Brussels establishment.

Together with Social Democrats and Liberals they control the European institutions and most national governments in the EU.

Their lead candidate is Manfred Weber from Germany, until now the chairman of the European People's Party group in Parliament.

This week Weber officially launched his campaign.

Sandor Zsiros was with him. His motto: The Power of We.

Brexit

Tired of Brexit? Be patient, just a few more days.

April 12th is the last day until which London has to make a decision on a plan to exit the EU, as in the VERY LAST day, according to EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.

Otherwise it's bye-bye Britain.

Unless, of course, hell freezes over or Theresa May gets another extension at next week's special EU summit.

Something she has already asked for in a letter to EU Council President Donald Tusk.

Before that, EU leaders were adamant.

Next week

On Monday, Italian populist leader Matteo Salvini launches his campaign for the European elections.

He has called on other nationalist parties in Europe to build an alliance in order to form a strong populist group in the next Parliament, ass mentioned earlier.

On Tuesday, EU and Chinese leaders come together for a summit meeting in Brussels.

The Europeans, who have often been divided over China, want to present a united front this time. But don't hold your breath.

And finally on Wednesday, Brussels hosts the special EU summit on Brexit.

It might or might not be Theresa May's last ever EU summit – if Brexit is going to happen any time soon, that is.

Before we go, I want to give the last word to Donald Tusk, the EU Council President. His social media game has won over many - and this week he celebrated a milestone 1M followers. It's still a long way off former US President Barack Obama's 105M followers, but it's a start.

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