The European People’s Party’s (EPP) Political Assembly is being held in Malta, at the PN Headquarters.
President of the EPP Manfred Weber said at the launch of the event that the EPP is the ‘European Party’ with some of the EPP’s “family” founding the EU and pointing out that it was Donald Tusk who “won back” Poland from a populist anti-EU country. He went on to remind that it was the PN, a branch of the EPP and not the “socialists”, who brought Malta into the EU. “We are pro-Europe, pro-Ukraine and in favour of good governance,” he said, adding that the EPP will only work parties who have the same values.
Weber called Malta a “winner country” lauding the June MEP elections to be “extremely successful” and praising the two Maltese PN MEPs and EU Parliament President Roberta Metsola whom the EPP is “proud of”. He said that the agenda of the political assembly first concerns the Mediterranean Pact and the ties to non-Mediterranean countries as well as the issues of the middle class such as inflation and infrastructure. He added: “The substance of the discussion is what the EU can contribute.”
Weber noted that the EU is at the beginning of a new mandate for the EU Commission. He said that the EPP came to Malta to “take ideas back to Strasbourg” and pointed out that whilst the European Parliament President is from Malta, one of the smallest countries in the EU, the President of the European Commission is from one of the largest countries in the EU, all to say that “There is no big or small Europe, that is part of the EPP’s DNA.”
When asked about the debated Green Deal Weber pointed out that it was initially negotiated by EU Commission President Ursula van der Leyen, however they will proceed in implementing it in a “pragmatic way” that won’t “hurt the farmers” nor the economy.
On his part Grech stressed what a “great honour” it is that the EPP chose Malta, more so, with the PN Headquarters being the chosen location. He explained that “challenges and opportunities” will be discussed, and will include topics like migration and Ukraine as well as the ‘Fit for 55’ initiative, an “economic opportunity” for which internal talks have already started.
