Germany has sent thousands of migrants who entered illegally from Poland back east. Tusk, who only months ago called Germany’s border checks “unacceptable”, is now raising eyebrows by introducing the very same restrictions, which according to EU law must only be imposed temporarily.
That’s not the only source of friction among EPP heavyweights.
The Capitals can reveal that Tusk refused to sign up to a statement from the EPP leaders in the lead-up to last Thursday’s European summit, which called for an ambitious yet pragmatic climate policy and reducing migration.
Andrzej Halicki, an MEP from Tusk’s party who sits in the EPP’s executive committee, said: “We didn’t sign the document."
Nick wrote last week that the Poles were fuming because some of their amendments to the statement weren’t accepted. “We don’t see that these statements are needed before the summit. Especially if the points are not on the agenda,” Halicki said.
It’s a clear critique of Manfred Weber, who replaced Tusk as EPP chief and uses the pre-summit meetings to exert influence by organising the statement’s drafting and coordinating the leaders’ positions. Weber and Tusk have had tense relations in the past over Weber’s flirtation with the ECR group – which contains PiS but also Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy. The EPP declined to comment.
So why were the Poles upset? Halicki wouldn’t be drawn except to say that migration was one of the issues. “I know that the general feeling was this statement opens up EPP to the right,” another EPP source told Nick. Yet another person said the differences were over climate.
How will EPP react to 2040 climate goal?
European commissioners will meet at 9 a.m. today to agree that by the year 2040 CO2 emissions should only be a tenth of their size in 1990. The EU-wide climate target is a staging post to the ultimate 2050 goal of climate neutrality in 2050. Taking into account the progress so far, the 2040 goal means slashing emissions to less than a sixth of today’s levels in the space of 15 years. A big challenge.
Commissioners are expected to propose that international climate credits could count towards the goal.
All eyes are on the response of Manfred Weber’s parliamentary group. The EPP has been gung-ho about gutting green legislation. “We will not stand for further climate or environmental policy measures without corresponding initiatives to boost competitiveness,” said MEP Christian Ehler. He said the EPP has not yet decided its position on the target, creating jeopardy about the legislation's future in Parliament.
Trouble is also ahead in the Council, where France, Italy and Poland have been asking the Commission to put more of an emphasis on how businesses can reach the targets. But Denmark, which will steer talks among countries, is a big fan of ambitious climate action. One to watch!
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Von der Leyen’s private jet
Ursula von der Leyen took 16 private jet flights in 2024, according to data disclosed by the Commission on June 30 in response to a parliamentary question. The travel costs were fully covered by the Commission, according to an answer given to MEP Martin Schirdewan of The Left.
Scrutiny over von der Leyen’s travel habits has intensified since March 2023, when German outlets Bild and Spiegel revealed she’d taken 57 private flights over a two-year period. That led to criticism about her environmental footprint, especially because she was the face of the European Green Deal, Euractiv’s Elisa Braün writes.
Schirdewan noted back in 2023 that she travelled between the EU institutions in Brussels and Strasbourg three times on a private jet. Direct train connections take around four to five hours. Strasbourg appears five times on von der Leyen’s private jet itineraries in 2024, including one direct flight from Brussels.
The Commission said chartered planes were “only” used out of logistical necessity, or because of security concerns or time constraints.
"It is good to remember that she is a full member of the European Council, of the G7, the G20 and invited to world events [such] as the UN General Assembly, at the same level as a head of state or government and with an equivalent schedule and related work burden," a spokesperson for the Commission said. "The President travels as much as possible using commercial airlines and public transport."
EPP gatecrashes Socialists’ house
The EPP is trying to plant its flag on housing – a file the Socialists have long claimed as their own. After securing the rapporteur post on Parliament’s new special committee on the housing crisis, the centre right is now pressing its case with the Commission.
In a letter sent Tuesday to Housing Commissioner Dan Jørgensen (a Danish socialist) and seen by Euractiv, EPP members call for a legislative clean-up to cut red tape, speed up permits, and drop EU rules they argue inflate housing costs without improving quality or sustainability.
They also urge the Commission to team up with the European Investment Bank to roll out the pan-European affordable housing platform, while firmly stressing that housing remains a national competence.
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