EPP against von der Leyen: Who is ruling in Brussels?

The European Commission has dared to propose a reduction in agricultural spending in the new multiannual financial framework, the EU budget for the next seven-year period. The Common Agricultural Policy is not being abandoned, but instead of cows and pigs, corn and soy, the Commission prefers clouds, chips, and unicorns, and will direct subsidies in that direction.

However, quite predictably, farmers across the European Union realized what awaited them and rebelled. Loudly! Tractors once again blocked the streets of European metropolises, from Paris to Warsaw, and from the cabins came not a ‘Ode to Joy’, but threats that the entire continent would be hungry and that such a decision jeopardizes the most vulnerable sector, crucial for the self-sustainability of the entire continent.

And while European bureaucrats, unscathed, bypassed the furious farmers, liters of spilled milk, and tractors in front of the Commission, a political twist worthy of a Balkan soap opera occurred. The European People’s Party (EPP), the largest, most disciplined, and most pro-European group in Parliament, and the party of Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, announced that it would not support the European Commission’s proposal.

In other words: the party will not vote for its own leader! The paradox is complete: the largest party in the European Parliament is now trying to appear as an opposition to its own policy. If this were to happen in Croatia, it would be like Plenković’s government proposing some law, and the HDZ saying: ‘Thank you, Prime Minister, for your effort, but this time we will vote according to our conscience.’

In Brussels, however, no one blinks. Political logic there has long turned into cubism: from every angle, it looks different, and no one knows what they are actually looking at, nor how that logic should actually look. In Brussels, this is called ‘internal democracy’, but in reality, it looks like a family quarrel over who is the main family cook. Everyone knows that grandma has annexed the kitchen, and although others cook well too, no one wants to approach the stove except her, even though her dishes are almost inedible.

Politically speaking, this twist reveals how much the EU institutions have lost touch with their own base, but also how much they fear their own shadow and the radical parties that are breathing down the neck of the EPP, the largest political grouping in the European Parliament. Much more than the socialists, liberals, and greens…

If the Commission does not withdraw the proposal, the EPP will likely bring it down in Parliament. For its own reputation, not so much for Ursula, who could thus become the first Commission president to lose her own majority due to her own proposal. In political terms, this is akin to the HDZ bringing down the state budget because Andrej Plenković’s government dared to reduce spending on veterans in the budget rebalancing. Such things, of course, do not happen in Croatia, but Brussels seems to have a sense of humor.

On the other hand, this may be the true picture of today’s EU: a system that argues with itself while convincing everyone around it that it is stable and has a recipe for pan-European competitiveness and resilience. In such a system, some dream of a digital revolution, others of a green transition, others only about subsidies for tractors, fertilizers, and fuel, and all swear by unity, at least until the bill comes. Because in Brussels, as in any bureaucracy, no one is against change. As long as they don’t have to pay for it.