Hello everyone and welcome back to your regular newsletter from the European Democratic Party.
When we last wrote to you, we had just concluded our Congress in Brussels on 7 December and Donald Trump had just been elected President of the United States: a completely different era, you might say.
In the last two months, however, world events have taken a turn that we European democrats would never have wished for. The bombastic statements of the new US president, with threats of tariffs even against allies and even the idea of conquering sovereign territories such as Greenland, Canada or Panama; the chilling speech of Vice President JD Vance in Munich; the dramatic episode of the argument between Trump and President Zelensky in the White House; the blackmail over rare earths in Ukraine; the recent suspension of intelligence sharing with Kiev and, finally, Trump’s sloppy words towards Putin: All these events have shocked those who believe in freedom, human rights and international law as a means of peaceful conflict resolution.
STANDING UP FOR UKRAINE — AND FOR EUROPE
We European democrats did not stand idly by and watch. We condemned (and continue to condemn) what was happening day after day and openly declared our support for Ukraine and its democratically elected president, Mr Zelensky. We also supported those – starting with French President Macron – who raised their voices and made concrete proposals to get out of this crisis. During the White House meeting, the minute-long video we posted on social media shows Macron responding in kind to Trump, making us proud to be Europeans and debunking the US President’s lies about Ukraine.
TO LEAD OR TO BE LED?
Our response as European democrats was not long in coming. In such a changed global context, with the Americans claiming to give us lessons in democracy while dismantling their own checks and balances at home, the challenge for Europe is simple: do we want to lead or be led? Do we want to stand up and take our destiny into our own hands, or do we want to resign ourselves to being on the periphery of the world while the superpowers – eighty years after Yalta – try to redraw the lines of influence? Do we want an autonomous Europe, a leading player in global competitiveness and in the technologies of the future (such as digital and artificial intelligence), in defence, culture and education, to build a stronger European identity that unites the generations and prepares young people for the challenges of tomorrow? And to achieve this, are we prepared to launch a profound reform of the Treaties, as proposed in our manifesto for the 2024 European elections? The campaign we launched in February, “To lead or to be led”, inspired by the Hamlet doubt, makes our position clear: it is time for Europe to regain control of its own destiny.
BUILDING A EUROPEAN DEFENCE!
One of the key issues we must influence, especially in the light of recent global upheavals, is that of a Europe of defence. Our President, François Bayrou (current French Prime Minister), made this clear in an interview with Le Figaro: ‘A European defence organisation is the only possible solution’, since Europe can no longer rely on US security guarantees. He added that ‘this change forces us to rethink our model, our priorities and our vision of the world we thought we knew, which now turns out to be much more dangerous than we imagined’.
The same concept was echoed by our Secretary General, French MEP Sandro Gozi, who stressed the importance of building a European defence within the EU institutions: ‘I think that countries that want to move forward must do so, and I stress that they must do so within the framework of the European Union. On defence, the treaties allow structured cooperation for 3-4 countries that want to move forward together. For security, we can create ‘vanguards’.
This vision is gaining support across the political spectrum. European Democrat MEP Christophe Grudler led a group of more than 40 MEPs – including many from the EDP – in drafting a document calling for Europe to take responsibility for its own defence and avoid external dependencies. The MEPs stress that the increase in military spending must guarantee strategic autonomy, favouring European-made technologies and equipment, so that critical defence capabilities are not subject to external control.
MAINTAINING TIES WITH THE U.S.
In such a complex situation, it is nevertheless crucial to maintain a solid link with our US friends, especially the Democrats, who deserve our full support. Our Secretary General, Sandro Gozi, travelled with the IMCO delegation to the US at the end of February, where he met with politicians from both parties, stakeholders and professionals to discuss digital innovation, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence and fair competition.
In this context, the EDP has entered into a partnership with a historic newspaper of the Italian-American community in New York – today a point of reference for all Europeans living in the United States – by creating the section “The Voice of Europe” on the website “La Voce di New York” . This initiative aims to be a persistent bridge of dialogue with the United States, despite the fact that Donald Trump’s presidency is going in a completely different direction.
THE ORANGE WAVE EXPANDS
The orange wave – orange like our new logo – is spreading. If in December we welcomed with great satisfaction the appointment of our President François Bayrou as Prime Minister of France, in February another pleasant surprise arrived in the home of the European democrats: the President of our Belgian party Les Engagés, Maxime Prévot, was in fact appointed Deputy Prime Minister of the new government and Minister for Foreign and European Affairs, together with Jean-Luck Crucke (Minister for Climate and Mobility) and Vanezza Matz (Minister for Public Modernisation).
Meanwhile, the work of the European Democratic Party to strengthen relations with the new realities on the political scene continues. An example of this was the visit of our team to Dublin at the end of February to meet our friends from Independent Ireland. Also worth mentioning is the meeting at the Palais Matignon in Paris between EDP President (and French Prime Minister) François Bayrou, Secretary General Sandro Gozi and Stefanos Kassellakis, President of the Greek Movement for Democracy, a new centrist reality with which we have much in common.
SEE YOU NEXT TIME
In this chaotic world scenario, we European democrats are trying to keep the rudder straight by proposing solutions for a more sovereign, stronger and more autonomous Europe. To do this, we also need your support, starting with the social networks where our visibility is growing strongly: you can follow us on Instagram – where we have also opened a new communication channel – on LinkedIn and on all our other channels (full list here).
We have also landed on TikTok to engage more with the young audience. Speaking of young people, we have launched a special programme: if you are under 30 – or know someone who is – visit or recommend this page: https://democrats.eu/en/you-are-europe/.
See you soon!
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