The European People’s Party (EPP) leaders met on Wednesday, October 17, in Brussels ahead of the European Council. In the margins of the meeting, the EPP President Joseph Daul stated:
“We owe clarity to the European and British citizens. More than two years after the referendum on the United Kingdom’s membership of the European Union, it is now time to come to an agreement. Under the helm of Brexit Chief Negotiator Michel Barnier, the negotiations have been conducted in a transparent, constructive and open manner. It is now up to the UK to put forward solutions in order to avoid a hard border between Ireland and Northern Ireland.”
The EPP leaders reiterated their unwavering support to Ireland and Taoiseach Leo Varadkar.
The EPP Summit coincided with the deadline for nominations to become EPP Spitzenkandidat. The two EPP candidates, Alex Stubb and Manfred Weber, were invited to the meeting and the EPP leaders took note of their candidacies at the meeting.
“EPP pioneered the Spitzenkandidat process and we will continue to support it as an advancement of European democracy. Alex Stubb and Manfred Weber are two excellent candidates, who represent a new political generation for the continent and bring a new momentum to Europe. The next step of this open and transparent procedure will be the vote at the party Congress in Helsinki on 7 and 8 November by 734 delegates of all EPP Member Parties from EU Member States,” declared EPP President Daul.
The EPP leaders also had an open and frank discussion with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
EPP leaders held a minute’s silence to mark the one year anniversary of the murder of Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. On this occasion, the EPP calls once again on the Maltese and Slovak governments to take the necessary steps to bring those behind the murders of journalists to justice.
