“The very soul of Europe is at risk,” warned Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.
During the two-day meeting in Rome, politicians cast around for ideas and strategies to reverse the curve.
“We should respond to the worries of our citizens,” Belgian Socialist Party lead candidate Elio Di Rupo told POLITICO, noting that the far right is polling highest in the Flemish region of his country. “The first worry is purchasing power,” he said, adding that the EU should help raise minimum salaries. The other two main topics for the campaign should be security and the environment, he said.
Another strategy is to broaden the parties in their camp. In the Netherlands, the Labor party is fighting the election in tandem with the Greens, while there was favorable chatter among MEPs behind the scenes at the congress about Italy’s 5 Star Movement sitting with them in the European Parliament at some point, regardless of questions about the party’s stance on Ukraine.
Lars Klingbeil, co-leader of the German Social Democrats, said the campaign priorities should be on people’s earnings, affordable housing and pensions. “If we do that, then I’m convinced that we will get people back that in the moment would say I will vote for the right-wing populists.”
He suggested the Socialists should not seek to interfere too much in voters’ personal choices, such as “if people use their car, or use an airplane, or eat meat or speak gendered language,” he said.