Spain’s Ribera Urges Voters To Stop Possible Von Der Leyen-Far-Right Deal

By Fernando Heller 

(EurActiv) — Ecological Transition Minister Teresa Ribera, the lead candidate of Spain’s left-wing PSOE in the upcoming EU elections, urged EU citizens on Tuesday to mobilise to prevent a possible alliance between the European People’s Party (EPP) candidate, current European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and far-right forces in the European Parliament.

“Here (in Spain), we know what it means to pact with the far-right, we know what it represents in terms of cutting rights, freedoms or in terms of cutting public services for those who need them most,” Ribera said, referring to the coalition governments of main opposition force Partido Popular (EPP) and far-right party VOX in several Spanish regions.

Speaking to the press at the headquarters of the Senate in Madrid, Ribera said that she did not want to see a repeat of the images of a few days ago, with “people waving their arms in the air in Rome and exerting their will in Brussels,” because these groups have a “more divided and more exclusive” vision of Europe.

Ribera was referring to von der Leyen’s comments on Monday in which she left the door open to working with the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) – a group that would include VOX, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s Fratelli d’Italia and the Polish conservative Law and Justice party (PiS) after the European elections.

Ribera added that von der Leyen’s message is “very worrying” and is another reason to vote in the European elections.

The latest polls indicate that far-right forces could come third in the European Parliament, behind the EPP and the Socialists and Democrats (S&D).