Latest news with #S&D
Euronews
10-07-2025
- Politics
- Euronews
Socialists back von der Leyen in return for pledge on social budget
Ursula von der Leyen appeared to secure more votes protecting her from Thursday's motion of censure, as Socialists pledged their support for the Commission President in exchange for assurances on the EU budget, including the European Social Fund. The far-right-led motion of no-confidence will go to a roll call vote around midday on Thursday, with von der Leyen's and the entire Commission's future put to the test in the confidence vote. The motion, spearheaded by the Patriots for Europe, Europe of Sovereign Nations, and a fraction of the European Conservatives and Reformists, has gathered significant support but would need a two-thirds majority for the vote of no-confidence to be successful. With the European People's Party (EPP) firmly opposed and many in the centre-left and liberal groups rejecting the motion on principle, the opposition will likely fall short. The Socialists & Democrats (S&D), the second-largest group in the European Parliament, came out firmly against the motion on Wednesday after receiving reassurances from von der Leyen that the European Social Fund (ESF) will remain a cornerstone of the next EU budget. For the S&D, this was a non-negotiable demand and a key reason behind their decision to stand by the Commission, despite some internal dissent. A few MEPs from the group might still abstain, but overall, the vote will lean in favour of the Commission's survival. Tensions and doubts that group lines will be strictly followed The Renew Europe group has also voiced opposition to the censure motion, with members claiming that the far-right's tactics must not be allowed to succeed. However, internal tensions remain. Some MEPs, particularly from Fianna Fáil in Ireland, were reluctant to fully back von der Leyen, with a few choosing to abstain, including MEP Barry Andrews. The Greens/EFA group, while mostly aligned in rejecting the motion, has also seen some splits within its ranks. Italian and Spanish Green MEPs are planning to abstain by not participating in the vote, stating their opposition to von der Leyen's policies but unwilling to back a far-right motion aimed at her removal. The Left group, which has been vocal in its criticism of the Commission, remains divided. While most will abstain to protest von der Leyen's leadership, parties like Sinn Féin and Italy's Five Star Movement are expected to vote in favour of the motion, signalling their dissatisfaction with the current direction of the EU. Proponents of the censure motion will struggle today to find the votes for it to pass, but support for von der Leyen is likely to fall well below the 370 that originally approved her Commission in 2024. As reported, the motion itself is seen as having weakened her position, and today's vote marks another chapter in the growing political fractures within the European Parliament, signalling a tough road ahead for the Commission's leadership. Shona Murray contributed reporting from Brussels.
Euractiv
09-07-2025
- Business
- Euractiv
Socialists' budget brinkmanship
Welcome to the Capitals by Eddy Wax, with Nicoletta Ionta. We welcome feedback and tips here. Sign up here. Live from Strasbourg! Nicoletta and I will be sitting in the European Parliament's Swan Bar between 17:30 and 19:00 today. Come and say hi to your newsletter team! In today's edition: S&D get serious Brunner gets deported Patriots get climate bill Schengen at 40 Today's edition is powered by CEN and CENELEC Standards support European competitiveness CEN and CENELEC welcome Denmark's Presidency of the EU Council. We are ready to leverage the strength of standards to help Europe complete the Single Market, drive innovation, strengthen competitiveness and ensure effective regulation across strategic sectors. Read more. À la carte How much more can the Socialists & Democrats take? And what are their options as the new right-wing alternative majority chips away at their once-central place in the EU power balance? They say that this time their threat to block the next seven-year EU budget is not just empty words. S&D MEPs were left disappointed by Ursula von der Leyen at a closed-door meeting in Strasbourg yesterday, as she outlined her broad plans for the 2028-2034 budget cycle, ahead of the official proposal on 16 July. The centre-left group wants the Commission to rethink its plan to merge all EU cash into a single envelope per country. The Socialists also want a larger EU budget, more EU taxes, more common debt, standalone regional and agricultural funds, and a protected European Social Fund. 'We will not be shy to walk away from this important file,' said Dutch Socialist Mohammed Chahim. S&D's Carla Tavares, one of two lead MEPs on the budget, said von der Leyen gave them no 'relevant news' in the meeting. Jean-Marc Germain, a French Socialist, said it was 'not normal' that only von der Leyen – and no other commissioner – seemed to know what was in the proposal. Though he rejected my query about the credibility of the Socialists' red lines. Last year, when Socialist commissioner Teresa Ribera was threatened with rejection by the right, the S&D forgot their own initial refusal to let Giorgia Meloni's pick Raffaele Fitto become an executive vice president of the Commission. "It was complicated for the College of Commissioners, for budget it's simple,' Germain said. 'Either we have our priorities and no red lines crossed, and it's a yes, or it's a no and there is no budget. That makes the threat credible." Only the unveiling next Wednesday will tell if von der Leyen takes them seriously or not. Socialists' uneasy Danish presidency The S&D has problems closer to home too. Fewer than 20 of the 136 Socialist MEPs showed up to listen to Mette Frederiksen's speech in the plenary on Tuesday, even though she is one of only three European leaders from their political family. Were they all too busy? Or were they perhaps irked by the Danish prime minister's tough stance on migration – which drew applause from the right of the hemicycle– and her statement that it is negatively impacting the cohesion of Europe's societies? Either way, the EPP stuck the boot in. 'The resistance in S&D towards Mette Frederiksen will not stand in the way [of us working closely with her],' said its MEP Tomas Tobé. Brunner gets deported Magnus Brunner just got a tiny taste of what it's like to be deported. A high-profile EU visit to Libya ended in diplomatic chaos on Tuesday when the European commissioner for migration and the interior ministers of Italy, Greece, and Malta were expelled upon arrival in Benghazi. Sources in Athens told Euractiv that the incident may be linked to the fact that the European delegation first visited Tripoli – the seat of Libya's internationally-recognised government. Read more. Patriots for climate Greens, Socialists, and liberals are scrambling to sideline the far-right Patriots for Europe group after it secured control of the EU's 2040 climate goal bill. With a crucial vote tomorrow, the centre-right EPP holds the balance. 'The Patriots can be outmanoeuvred and we will do everything we can to outmanoeuvre them,' said Green MEP Michael Bloss, warning they aim to 'sabotage everything' on climate. Fast-tracking the law could limit their influence, added Renew's Pascal Canfin. Read more. Iran-EU The ECR and EPP groups brought Iranian human rights activists and journalists to the Parliament yesterday, calling for the EU to do something before the nuclear deal expires and it's too late to pressure the Islamic Republic. The regime's revolutionary guard has this week called for mass executions as it cracks down after the recent war with Israel and bombing by America. Most of the speakers said that France, Germany, the UK and the EU should make sure the 'snapback' UN sanctions on Iran are implemented swiftly. 'Appeasement has to end somewhere,' said Sima Sabet, founder of Pulse Media. 'The question should be put to Kaja Kallas. Is she going to act on this?' Swedish ECR's Charlie Weimers, a co-host of the event, said. EU-US trade talks Donald Trump said yesterday that the EU will 'probably' receive a letter setting its new US tariff rate on Thursday. 'They [the EU] are very tough but now they're being very nice to us,' Trump told reporters. 'We'll see what happens. We're probably two days off from sending them a letter. We are talking to them. I just want you to know a letter means a deal." The comments come amid frantic efforts by EU officials to avoid Trump's sweeping 'reciprocal tariffs', which were set to enter into force on Wednesday before being delayed to 1 August. On Tuesday, he said tariffs of up to 200% on pharmaceutical products will be announced 'very soon', also flagging a new 50% levy on copper. Around the bloc GERMANY | A Berlin court dealt another blow to Chancellor Merz's crackdown on migration, as it ruled on Tuesday that the German government must issue visas to an Afghan family. The family is part of a resettlement scheme providing visas for some local staff who worked for Germany's armed forces before the return of the Taliban regime. Merz's government has vowed to end the scheme, which has left some 2,400 Afghans stranded in Pakistan, where they were waiting for their resettlement to Germany. FRANCE | A few months after being barred from standing in any election for five years, Marine Le Pen has submitted an application to the European Court of Human Rights, requesting the 'urgent' suspension of the provisional enforcement of the sentence. The leader of the National Rally (RN) MPs in the National Assembly has already appealed the decision handed down by the Paris Criminal Court and is expected to know the outcome within a year. SWEDEN | In a major breach of security, members of Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson's personal protection team have openly monitored their activity using popular fitness tracking app Strava, Swedish media revealed on Tuesday. Read more. ITALY | Italy's Constitutional Court ruled on Tuesday that the administrative detention of NGO rescue ships under the Italian government's controversial migration decree is constitutional. Read more. POLAND | Polish Defence Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz on Tuesday called on those who wish to "defend Poland's borders" to join official services amid escalating border tensions and a rising number of self-organized vigilante patrols. Read more CZECHIA | Several Czech companies continue to export goods to Russia in violation of EU sanctions, Czech news site Deník N reported, citing customs data and a list from the office of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Read more. Also on Euractiv
Euronews
08-07-2025
- Business
- Euronews
EU examines US proposal of 10% tariffs but concerns remain on sectors
The EU and the US are preparing for a trade deal involving the US imposing a baseline 10% tariff on EU goods, according to several sources briefed by EU Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič. A preliminary agreement is expected to be concluded by Wednesday, with legal implementation by August 1st — the new deadline set by US President Donald Trump before additional tariffs come into effect if no deal is signed, sources said. 'The US will not drop the baseline tariffs, because they're a revenue source,' the Parliament's trade committee head MEP Bernd Lange (Germany/S&D) told reporters on Tuesday. He said that aircraft and spirits would be exempted from the baseline 10% tariffs. Whether wines are included remains unclear. The US currently apply 25% tariffs on EU cars, 50% tariffs on steel and aluminium and 10% tariffs on all other EU imports. Lange said negotiations are ongoing on attempts to remove tariffs on cars, with much at stake for the German automotive industry, which is highly exposed to trade with the US. 'There are already estimates that up to 50,000 jobs could be at risk,' Lange added. Germany and Italy — the largest EU exporters of goods to the US along with Ireland — remain concerned by US proposals not to exempt key sectors such as cars, steel and aluminium or pharmaceuticals, according to an EU diplomat. EU retaliatory measures remain on the table but have not yet been finalised by the Commission. The EU must still decide when to use them. 'There is no immediate plan to do anything with the list,' Commission spokesperson Olof Gill said on Monday. A first list of measures covering €21 billion worth of US products has been suspended until the 14 July. A second list, reduced after the lobbying of industries and EU member states from €95 billion euros to €72 billion worth of US products, according to the French media AFP, has yet to be submitted for final approval by the EU member states.
Euronews
08-07-2025
- Politics
- Euronews
EU Parliament confidence vote: Where parties stand on von der Leyen
The majority of the political groups of the European Parliament will not back the vote of no-confidence tabled against von der Leyen's European Commission, but even those from the coalition that voted her into office last year reproached her leadership, and some groups are split over how to vote. After the debate held in the hemicycle on Monday, some of the eight groups of the Parliament clearly staked their position ahead of the vote, while others were more ambiguous, and not all MEPs align with their groups. The European People's Party (EPP), Ursula von der Leyen's political force, is fully behind her. "We will vote unanimously against", said Manfred Weber, chair of the group. The EPP has painted the vote as the emanating from far right MEPs friendly to Russian President Vladimir Putin. "With this motion of censure, we are wasting time: Putin will be happy of what his friends are doing here. I know the German AfD (Alternative for Germany) and the Romanian AUR (Alliance for Unity of Romanians) are the puppets of Putin. This motion of censure is against the security of the Europeans," Weber said during the debate. Criticism of von der Leyen on display Socialists and democrats (S&D), Renew Europe and Greens/EFA groups have also said they will not vote to censure, but that didn't stop their chairs criticising von der Leyen for treating with the right wing parties, ignoring important policy files and leading the Commission with an extremely centralised and opaque working style. 'This motion will not count with the vote in favour of my group. We will not give a single vote to those who want to destroy the European Union,' said S&D leader Iratxe García Pérez, describing the motion of censure as a "reactionary assault". But García Pérez also blamed von der Leyen for backsliding on the Green Deal when she allied with conservatives to withdraw the Commission's controversial directive on green claims, which is meant to address greenwashing. Besides, not supporting the motion does not necessarily equate to a pledge that the Socialists will vote against it. According to sources from the Parliament, the group's members could also abstain. "We have not decided yet, we will discuss the issue in the next days before the vote," S&D Belgian MEP Estelle Ceulemans told Euronews after a group internal meeting. Renew Europe also clearly stated that it opposed the motion of censure. "The motion itself shows the bad intentions of the signatories: a mishmash of allegations on Pfizer text messages, the spending of the Recovery Facility, defence plans and supposed election interference," a statement from the group read. Renew Europe's president, Valérie Hayer, doubled down on this during her intervention, but she too took the opportunity to take a swipe at von der Leyen. "The Commission is too centralised, too fossilised", she said. The Greens/EFA group is set to reject the motion of censure, with all its MEPs voting against, abstaining, or not showing up on the day of the vote, according to internal sources. The leader of the group, Bas Eickhout called the motion 'one big political show of the far-right to undermine democracy.' But he also lashed out at recent tie ups over voting between the EPP and the far-right. 'You are feeding that beast, and at a certain moment the beast will eat you,' Eickhout said, directing his glance at EPP President Weber. The Left's co-President Martin Schirdewa said his group opposes the motion of censure because it refuses "to be instrumentalised by right-wing extremists". But others within the group don't appear to be on the same page. The Italian Five Stars Movement, for example, will vote in favour: "Millions of citizens who believe in the EU, in democracy and in social justice are asking us today to send von der Leyen home", a statement from the party said. The Left's Irish MEPs are also set to vote in favour, according to Parliament sources. Conservatives split on the vote, far right united The European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) illustrate this shaky group dynamic more clearly: some of its members proposed and actively promoted the vote of confidence, while others are set to defend the Commission. Officially, the group will leave its lawmakers to follow their consciences with a free vote, and the largest national delegations are in opposite camps. Romanians from ultra-nationalist party AUR and Polish from Law and Justice (PiS) are among the signatories of the motion of censure, consistently with a long tradition of hard criticism against von der Leyen and her college. On the other side, the members of Brothers of Italy will not vote in favour of the motion, as this would entail the resignation of all Commissioners, including Italy's Raffaele Fitto, Commission Executive Vice-President for Cohesion and Reforms, who comes from the party's ranks. "This motion is doomed to failure, not even getting close to the required threshold [to topple the Commission]. This is a gift to our political opponents," ECR co-chair Nicola Procaccini said during his intervention. Patriots for Europe (PfE) and Europe of Sovereign Nations (ESN), the two more radical right groups in the Parliament, will vote in favour of the motion, requesting the Commission to resign. "The Pfizergate has been an abuse of power: you have acted alone, out of any democratic framework", Fabrice Leggeri, a French National Rally MEP, said during the debate, while ESN's leader René Aust from Alternative for Germany, said his group intended to send von der Leyen "to an undeserved retirement". A symbolic vote The vote of no-confidence has very little chance of being approved, as at least two-thirds of the votes cast representing a majority of all MEPs would need to back the motion of censure for it to be adopted. But Monday's debate gave an indication of the level of distrust for Von der Leyen in the parliament, regardless of MEP's political affiliation. The parties from the so-called "centrist majority" (EPP, S&D, Renew Europe) are split on the assessment of the Commission's track record so far. While the EPP group fully endorses von der Leyen's political line (and is probably also behind it), Socialists and liberals are at odds with it, signalling that the coalition which saw von der Leyen voted in as President of the Commission one year back is on shaky ground. In this respect, S&D's leader García Pérez addressed EPP President Weber at the end of her intervention: "This motion is the direct result of your strategy in the Parliament. You are asking for responsibility while you negotiate your policies with the far right. We cannot go on like this," she said. The vote on the motion on Thursday 10 will probably testify to the level of discontent. A large number of abstentions might save the necks of the Commissioners, but also simultaneously inflict a political flesh wound on von der Leyen.
Euractiv
07-07-2025
- Politics
- Euractiv
Socialist MEP warns Commission against weakening CAP's labour protections
After visiting Italy's largest shanty town, Estelle Ceulemans of the Socialist and Democrats (S&D) group in the European Parliament told Euractiv that the EU is at a crossroads on workers' rights, as pressure builds to weaken the Common Agricultural Policy's 'social conditionality'. Estelle Ceulemans, a Belgian MEP and S&D coordinator in the Parliament's committee on employment and social affairs, visited Borgomezzanone in Apulia with a delegation organised by the European Federation of Food, Agriculture and Tourism Trade Unions (EFFAT). What follows is an edited transcript. You have just visited Italy's largest shanty town, Borgomezzanone, where many migrants who work in agriculture live. What did you see there? Inhumane living conditions. No water, no sanitary facilities... they have generators for electricity, but for everything else it is truly a matter of survival. Not to mention their working conditions, of course. They must work under the control of gangmasters, who are organised in pyramid-like, mafia-style structures. These are truly lawless zones for the workers, who are paid on average €2 per hour. It's also 40 degrees here. Is this a local failure in which Brussels has little involvement or influence? We visited one of the largest settlements here, but across the entire province there are around 20,000 workers living in similar conditions. It's almost an industrial-scale organisation of worker exploitation. Sadly, this situation exists elsewhere in Italy and in other parts of Europe. So should the EU do more to protect labour rights? Clearly, this is our responsibility. Our S&D colleague, Johan Danielsson, will lead an own-initiative report in the Parliament's employment committee (EMPL) to better regulate subcontracting chains, the role of intermediaries, and inspections. As is the case in some member states, we need to set targets to ensure that, especially in high-risk sectors like agriculture, at least 8% of companies are inspected each year. We urge the Commission to propose a directive to this effect. The social conditionality mechanism of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), which links farm subsidies to compliance with labour standards, is now in the spotlight. Some member states and conservative MEPs are calling for it to be reviewed or even scrapped, arguing that it results in double penalties and excessive burdens. Should the Commission reconsider this system in the future CAP? If the system is revised, it should be strengthened, not weakened or eliminated. We want more EU directives to be added to the conditionality system, especially the one on minimum wage. It won't be easy, but it's a fight we must lead. If the law and money are not aligned, nothing changes. We also want CAP payments to be tied to the number of declared workers. Because what we've seen here is a huge number of undeclared workers, which is a hallmark of the agricultural sector. The Commission is set to present its CAP proposal soon, which is expected to 'simplify' social conditionality to make it easier to implement by member states. What do you expect from this move? We'll see, but we are concerned. We already know that the current Commission's idea of 'simplification' leans towards 'deregulation'. And we've already heard rumours that the question of respecting social rights is somehow in question. Whatever happens, we will lead the necessary fights to reinforce social conditionality, including through sanctions. Social conditionality already exists in a country such as Italy. However, as we have seen, these rules are not being respected. It's very important to step out of the EU bubble and engage with the situation on the ground. This is the only way to face the reality. (adm, de)
