I got a press release today from the EPP-ED Group of the European Parliament. In it they inform me of an event to launch their new tag-line. The tag-line is “Europe’s Driving Force” (now you see why the UK Conservatives left them).
So what gives them the idea that they are Europe’s driving force? Well they are the biggest political group in the European Parliament. Which means if the EPP-ED Group support something, it should be passed easier by the European Parliament, but that isn’t always the way.
They say they play a key role in the current commission. Again this is true as thereare eight EPP Commissioners in the current European Commission, including the Commission President, José Manuel Barroso. The PES have six Commissioners, but the ALDE also have eight commissioners giving them a near equal claim to that phrase. The other EPP Commissioners are:
They say that EPP-ED member parties are in Government in “most” EU Member States. The EPP-ED have member parties in Government in 14 out of the 27 Member states. That is just over half of the member states. So does “most” cover that?
The EPP-ED claim that the “founding fathers of Europe belonged to the EPP-ED family”, this is something I had to check out. I looked at Europa Website which gave me a list of eight founding fathers of Europe.
So five out of the eight did belong to the EPP-ED Family, again just over half. So therefore this statement isn’t true.
So I don’t think the EPP-ED are “undoubtedly Europe’s driving force”, do you?
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he, he, i’m sorry to be again a commentator-just clicked and saw your another post, shortly: I also don’t think so :)!
No neede to apologise! Commenting is good! I should comment more! Glas you agree with me!
If they are serious about making the claim, then they should show us some specific policies that were delivered thanks primarily to EPP-ED’s backing… something we would care about.
Then again, the EPP-ED itself is not actually a candidate in any elections, and I dare say most voters won’t be sufficiently aware of European politics to even look at what the EPP-ED (as opposed to local parties) has to say.
I agree, the EPP did exaggerate when they said they “were the founding fathers of Europe” if only 5 of them were actual EPP members. They are a force in Europe, if Viviane Reding can improve Irelands broadband then I would say they are a driving force.
@Andrei, yes that would have shown us how that are driving Europe, but they don’t seam to want to show us that.
@Catherine if anyone could inprove Ireland’s Broadband I’d vote for them!!!!
@ Stephen SPILLANE
If the Irish want better public services they should be willing to pay taxis and not wait to get more funding presents from the EU.
Conservatives are not willing to invest in their societies by raising the necessary investments=taxes. If a European wants to see a perfect example of the outcome, he should travel and look at the infrastructure in Ireland. Not just the broadband…
@ Stephen SPILLANE
If the Irish want better public services they should be willing to invest in their society by paying taxis instead of waiting to get more funding presents from other EU countries.
Conservatives are not willing to invest in their societies by raising the necessary investments=taxes. I have seen the state of roads, water suply, electricity in Ireland. What can I say? Decades of conservative rule without commitment to invest in society.
Albert, Ireland has been ruled by Liberals (according to themselevs) not Conservatives for the vast majority of time that Ireland has been independent so, you might want to check things like that out before commenting
And this blog needs better infastructure too.
After pressing “submit comment” nothing happened for a few minutes. So I reworked the wording, pressed again on send and now there are both version. How great
@ Albert
Really, liberals? I thought that both big Irish “fiona” parties were in EPP?
No only Fine Gael is in EPP. Fianna Fail were in UEN and are now in ELDR.
Oh, if only FF were as Liberal as their liberal friends… (Though NOT the FDP!)
Is it really wise to boast of your important role, considering how things have been going lately?
Interesting to learn about party affiliations.
By the way: I wanted to excuse for having been so polemic about liberals and Ireland. I really like Ireland a lot and I would really enjoy living there!
And when I read about it here: The Irish way of canvasing seems a lot of fun!