In the debate on the presentation of the Commission's work programme for 2025, the European Conservatives and Reformists Group has warned against perpetuating the mistakes of the Green-inspired policies of the previous legislature and expressed their willingness to contribute to a real turnaround on economic and migration policies.

“The Commission’s work programme contains themes on which we are in complete agreement: the relaunch of competitiveness, the need for simplification, the focus on security, closely linked to the fight against illegal immigration”, said ECR Co-Chairman Nicola Procaccini.

He noted with satisfaction that “the first package of simplification proposals concerns the abandonment of certain measures that were the result of the green frenzy of the last legislature”.

Procaccini pointed out that Europe’s future and values are based on economic prosperity, which must be safeguarded:

“Only economic development makes people free and strong, not the imposition of rules and prohibitions. In the competition between liberalism and socialism, we have learned that only prosperity makes it possible to defend civil rights, to help citizens in poverty or illness, or to preserve nature.”

A radical change of direction towards a pragmatic and down-to-earth policy is needed. According to Procaccini, the ECR is ready to support a serious change.

“We must have the courage to make an abrupt change of course. We Conservatives are staking all our capital on the return of common sense and freedom, not on repeating the mistakes of the past or on woke initiatives”.

ECR Co-Chairman Patryk Jaki agreed his fellow MEP in the ensuing debate, presenting the Commission with a sobering balance sheet:

“A decade ago, ten out of the forty largest publicly traded companies in the world were based in the EU; today, only two remain, ranking 32nd and 36th. In 2008, the EU economy was over 90 per cent the size of the US economy; today, it’s just 50 per cent. Why? Because back then, the ETS (Emissions Trading System) and its derivatives began to operate in full force, consistently destroying our industry and competitiveness.”

According to Jaki, the EU needs a technology-open and non-chauvinistic approach to innovation, similar to the US:

“When I listened to J D Vance yesterday, who said that AI should be supported because it will drive development and wealth, all I heard in this chamber was how it poses a threat.”

“You’re even destroying the crown jewels of the European economy like the automotive and chemical industries. The heads of these companies are loudly appealing to you—do something about it—but you’re unresponsive, like talking to a lamp post.”

“The EU hasn’t been developing for years—it’s standing still, consuming the wealth created by previous generations—because you’ve burdened our companies with ideological backpacks and forced them to carry them. It’s time to put an end to this!”