EPP chief Weber denies ‘blackmailing’ MEPs ahead
of knife-edge Green Deal vote
European
People’s Party Assembly in Helsinki
BY EDDY WAX
AND LOUISE GUILLOT
JUNE 13,
2023 2:07 PM CET
STRASBOURG
— European People's Party leader Manfred Weber denied allegations from
political rivals that he is using underhand tactics to secure a narrow margin
of victory in a vote that could kill off a major plank of the EU's Green Deal
on Thursday.
Environment
Committee chair Pascal Canfin, with the centrist Renew Europe group, accused
Weber of "blackmailing" his own MEPs with the threat of expulsion if
they don't follow his group's line to deliver a fatal blow to a nature
restoration bill which the EPP argues will harm food security.
"What
a sign of weakness!" Canfin tweeted.
Weber
responded at a press conference by denying the accusations and insisting the
EPP still supports the Green Deal.
"If he
is putting such complaints on the table, he must give me a proof of this. I can
only say no, nobody is attacked," the German MEP said, accusing Canfin of
being "nervous and panicked."
One Czech
EPP lawmaker Stanislav Polčák has already signaled he intends to back the
Commission's proposal, defying Weber.
The
environment committee has 88 members but the result is likely to be close. In
the agriculture and fisheries committees, alliances of the EPP, right-wing ECR
and Renew MEPs rejected the proposal.
The outcome
of Thursday's vote will give an indication of what's likely to happen when the
measure goes before the whole parliament in July.
MEP
Mohammed Chahim, whose Socialists & Democrats group is fighting to save the
proposal, struck an optimistic note: "Fortunately, we have a
majority," he said.
As to the
allegation of Weber threatening EPP lawmakers, Chahim said: "These are the
rumors I hear. Rumors don’t just pop up.”
The Greens
Jutta Paulus tweeted: "Believe that Manfred Weber has overstepped limits
in trying to sabotage European Green Deal? You ain't seen nothing
yet."
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