European Parliament Mixed reactions to the election of German Manfred Weber throughout Europe
The new elected top candidate of the European People’s Party (EPP) Manfred Weber wishes for a Europe where every European feels at home. So he said after his victory over the Finn Alexander Stubb who only got 20 % of the votes. The 46 year old Bavarian who has been the group chairman of his party in the European Parliament for the last four years faces a divided political landscape.
Walter Hämmerle of the Wiener Zeitung sees the politician Weber and his union of centre right groups (the union of 72 parties from 41 states was founded in 1976) as agreeable down to earth. Against the demagogues from the far right as well as the extremistic left the political centre in his view is still able to set up elections in a respectable manner. With Weber for the conservatives and the Dutch Frans Timmermans for the socialdemocrats euopean euopean politics will be able to lead the political confrontations in a constructive way the author hopes.
Wiener Zeitung: Attack of the Rescuers
Anna Słojewska of the polish Rzeczpospolita hopes for the european conservatives to be the defender of the idea of an european integrations The true enemy of th Hungarian Victor Orbán and the Polish Jaroslaw Kaczyński are the young conservatives.
Rzeczpospolita: The Chance against Populists
On the contrary finds Peter Morvay in the slovak Dennik N. He sees in Weber a symbol of the hypocrisy against Orbán and the likes in eastern Europe. He fears that with Weber at the top the extremists may find a fertile soil to threaten the European Union from the inside.