Renew: reindustrialisation and greens job among EU election priorities

This article is part of our special report Talking about the EU elections.

EU reindustrialisation and the creation of ‘green jobs’ are among top priorities of the liberal family ahead the next EU elections, the President of Renew Europe group Stéphane Séjourné told EURACTIV in a video interview.

“Now Europe will have to make progress outside of the crises,” said Séjourné, who identified the “European reindustrialisation process, with jobs in the green industry” and the implementation of the tools created with the Green New Deal as key issues for the EU elections campaign .

“We voted for the tools and now we will have to implement them with other new laws, probably during the next mandate,” he explained.

The MEP also highlighted the fight to protect “European values,” as another point for the campaign, in particular the protection of the rule of law and the fight against discrimination against minorities.

Spitzenkandidat

“For the moment, this matter has not been settled and will be the subject of a debate between us on the question of a potential European leader,” Séjourné said regarding the possibility for the liberal family to internally elect a candidate for the presidency of the European Commission.

However, he pointed out that “to have a spitzenkandidat, it is necessary to have transnational lists. This was the condition for us to be able to enter in the dynamics”.

“I cannot tell you yet if there will be a Spitzenkandidat,” he said.

The reform of the EU electoral law was voted by the European Parliament in May 2022. The text proposed the creation of transnational lists, where people can vote candidates from other member states.

But EU lawmakers in the Council have refused to vote on the proposal, which is now unlikely to be approved for the next EU elections, foreseen for early June 2024.

EU countries to reject Spitzenkandidaten and pan-EU election lists

EU governments are set to formally kill off plans for transnational lists and Spitzenkandidaten, or lead candidates, at the next European elections in 2024.