EU parties competing with national politics as campaign kicks-off Dear readers, Welcome to EU Elections Decoded, your essential guide for staying up to date and receiving exclusive insights about the upcoming EU elections. This is Max Griera, writing from Brussels. Subscribe here. In today’s edition Do European parties and topics play a role in national campaigns? Barely, though they are trying hard. Bits from the week: ECR wakes up to the electoral campaign; EPP called out for lack of transparency; new EU parliamentary alliance; study reveals what topics European parties should avoid when campaigning. Flash updates: Macron’s camp in alert mode as left parties move in on liberals’ space; latest projection show Romania’s far-right on the rise while Germany’s AfD drops; EU liberals to campaign against von der Leyen. After a frenzy of party congresses, manifesto reveals and appointments of lead candidates, everyone is now ready to start the battle for June’s EU elections. The Green Deal, defence, and industry competitiveness will play a central role, but to what extent do the European parties and topics matter for the campaign? As in any campaign, the voters will look out for their interest and the national level will matter the most. Meanwhile, European parties face an uphill battle to help their national members, who will have to shape their messaging strategy for a local audience. Embracing the modern age, the Greens are betting on social media and a network of influencers and activists to amplify their message and support national campaigns. A video on combating racism on social media was shared across the EU on 21 March, translated into 19 languages to reach out to citizens as a test case for their online campaign strategy. However, the Greens will still send their lead candidates on the ground. “I am looking forward to listening to the people all over Europe when sharing their thoughts, hopes, and wishes regarding what the EU should be doing to improve their everyday lives,“ Terry Reintke, one of the two Green lead candidates, told me. Old-school campaigning The European Socialists (PES) rely on old-school on-the-ground campaigning, sending their lead candidate Nicolas Schmit on a touring fever around Europe with tailored, country-based messages. “My first event was with young people in Brussels. Then, on International Women’s Day, I was in Madrid standing with Spanish women and men for gender equality. The next day, I was in Helsinki showing solidarity with workers fighting for their rights,” the 70-year-old politician told me. His next engagement is to meet young people and Ukrainian refugees in Nancy, France and talk about housing in Portugal. “When you are a candidate for president of the European Commission, that comes with a responsibility to debate, to hold events, and to talk to voters about what you want to do, and who you want to do it with. The future of Europe is too important for candidates to run away from the campaign,” Schmit added. Incumbent Commission President Ursula von der Leyen from the centre-right EPP is scheduling a series of campaign events across Europe based on local priorities, just like the Left with its leader Walter Baier, and the Liberals with their trio of lead candidates. National politics always first However, as much as the EU parties may try forcing their Spitzenkandidaten upon voters, let’s remind ourselves that national politicians are the ones making the difference: Raphaël Glucksmann, not Schmit. Alberto Núñez Feijóo, not von der Leyen. Lisa Schilling, not Terry Reintke. And, whether it’s by pushing the EU elections to the background or fueling fiery campaigns, it seems like national political landscapes – as always – will determine how EU themes are utilised in member states. In the Netherlands and Portugal, recent national elections and struggles to form a government have kept national parties from looking forward to the EU elections. In Spain, a cascade of regional elections following national votes in August, has prevented the parties from entering the European campaign mode, with the main parties pushing for their national issues on the EU scene – like the infamous Catalan amnesty law – instead of bringing key EU topics to the home public. Rest assured that Madrid will continue looking inwards, with a very short EU election campaign that will be subjugated to the snap elections called for controversial Catalonia on 13 May. The EU elections campaign in Belgium will be subdued to the national one, as both take place on the same day, while in Poland, the political forces are embroiled in a fiery battle ahead of the local elections in April. A stress test for governments In some countries, however, the EU election campaign has started in earnest, though without any effervescent sense of Europeanism. With just 57% of citizens declaring they are interested in the EU elections, the brewing campaigns in France and Czechia seem to be used as a mid-term test for the governing parties. In the case of France, where all parties have announced their priorities and the lead candidates are already all over the media, the EU elections are seen as a thermometer for the looming battle for supremacy between incumbent President Emmanuel Macron and surging far-right leader Marine Le Pen. Similarly, the EU elections in Czechia will be used by the opposition parties as a stress test for the conservative government led by Petr Fiala ahead of parliamentary elections in 2025, as well as an attempt to contain controversial politician Andrej Babis and his party ANO, which is well ahead in polls. | 