Manfred Weber, president of the European People's Party (EPP) and CSU politician, talked to FOCUS online of the increasingly one-sided natureof the Russia-Ukraine war:
Every day, Putin is testing how far he can go, especially on the Finnish and Baltic borders. The only possible response to this is European unity and strength.
In the interview, he also took a jab at the prime minister of Hungary, by saying:
Let's get rid of the principle of unanimity in EU foreign policy so that Orban, Hungary's prime minister, cannot blackmail us any more.
The German politician was referring to stripping EU countries of their previously acquired rights in the decision making process.
The pro-war Weber, who has argued for compulsory conscription, including women, in Europe, said the EU's defense capabilities should be bolstered, alluding to a common missile defense system.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, together with Greek Prime Minister Kiriakos Micotakis, proposed Skyshield, as the EU's common missile defense system. But there is no response from Berlin. This is tragic. Because such a system is absolutely in Germany's interest,
lamented the pro-war Weber.
As Magyar Nemzet reported earlier, the EPP chief has come up with the crazy idea of the European Union setting up a common compulsory conscription system. The proposal is likely to be debated in the newly-constituted EP, unless pro-war MEPs bent on escalating the Russia-Ukraine war can be squeezed out. V4NA writes that the body set up after the June European elections will be among the first to discuss the possibilities, and that the vote could prove crucial.
Weber said that improving Europe's defense capabilities was too slow a process.
We must be strong enough now to defend ourselves and stand up for Ukraine. This must be proven over the next five years. The goal: a strong European pillar of defense and, in the long term, a European army,
with which he basically admitting that the EU's guiding principle is to drag out the war for at least another five years.
Prime Minister Viktor Orban spoke about the need to create a common European defense force at the Tusvanyos Festival in 2016. Back then, the Hungarian PM said that NATO membership is important and good, that it contributes to the security of Hungarians, and that its protective umbrella is vital for the security of Central Europe. And now, nearly a decade later, Weber is campaigning with Viktor Orban's words.
"With Britain's departure from the EU, the bloc's military power will significantly decrease, and we cannot remain in this defenseless situation in terms of military policy," the Hungarian prime minister argued at the time. Since then, time has proved him right, and Weber, echoing Orban's words, went further.
We urgently need a European defense commissioner to better coordinate our armaments efforts. We have 17 types of tanks, the Americans have one. That alone shows how we waste a lot of money on this continent.
When responding to the likely strengthening of right-wing conservative parties after the the EP elections, the EPP chief said
"The firewall remains, we clearly distance ourselves from the radicals. We must reclaim our values. Enough of the tactical debate, get down to the issues! That is what people expect from us."
Weber campaigns with Orban's ideas
"Given the demographic processes, we need immigration," Manfred Weber said.
We need legal migration. [...]Unfortunately, 60 percent of the people who come to Germany are not migrants with a right to asylum, but simply illegal immigrants,
he said, stating a long-known fact.
In the interview, Weber also proposed a Mediterranean pact: "cooperation with Tunisia, Egypt and Lebanon based on the results achieved with Turkey", and a form of economic cooperation with North Africa in conjunction with the joint fight against the human trafficking mafia.
Anyone who wants to live permanently in Europe has to respect our values and our legal system. That is the European way of life, a European guiding culture that applies to everyone,
he reiterated the high-sounding slogans in a Germany where the illegal migrants that have flooded the country are now calling for a caliphate.
Weber also pointed out that the European People's Party supports the right to asylum and the Geneva Refugee Convention.
But nowhere is it said that anyone has the right to spend their life in Germany in the future. There can also be safe third country concepts. That means:asylum, yes, but anyone seeking asylum cannot choose where. They must accept asylum where they get it.
And this is exactly the view that Viktor Orban has held since the 2015 migrant crisis. Thus, in the run-up to the 2024 EP elections, Manfred Weber seems to be campaigning with ideas borrowed from the Hungarian prime minister.
