The far right’s gains in the 2024 EU election disrupted the longstanding balance between the two political groups that drove lawmaking for decades. The EPP, of which the CDU is a member, has increasingly relied on right-wing majorities due to fraying cooperation with the S&D, to which the German Social Democrats belong. With polls signaling further populist gains across the bloc, Herbst and Repasi warned that unless the center repairs the relationship, more extreme voices will increasingly call the shots in Brussels.
The Herbst-Repasi idea would also help reduce European Commission President von der Leyen’s political stress. Rivalry between the two centrist groups has made Parliament votes on some of her biggest policies increasingly unpredictable ― such as in January when MEPs sent her EU-Mercosur trade deal for judicial review. A coalition agreement would restore stability, giving the Commission and capitals greater confidence in Parliament’s ability to deliver von der Leyen’s program, the MEPs said.
Continued “frustration” and “distrust” stemming from the EPP striking deals with the far-right could eventually drive the two groups completely apart, triggering a “political catastrophe” because the whole Brussels system would be paralyzed, Repasi said.
‘Basis of trust’
With far-right and far-left forces on track to make major gains at the 2029 EU election, Herbst warned that failing to work together would give “even more ammunition to the populists from the left and the right,”allowing them to keep scoring “easy wins” in Parliament.
“If mistrust continues, it will only be amplified by the 2029 elections,” his center-left counterpart added. “The need to talk to each other is going to be even bigger.” He said a potential pact could serve as the “model” for the next legislature.
Since June 2024, the EPP has increasingly joined forces with far-right groups to pass key legislation, including on deportations, cuts to green reporting requirements for businesses, and delays and rollbacks to a deforestation law. The group has also relied on far-right votes to shape the agenda in Parliament’s decision-making bodies.