EPP campaign for European elections to start in Athens

The campaign of the European People’s Party for the European Parliament elections next May will kick off in Athens where the EPP’s youth arm is to hold a meeting from November 1 to 4, just before a critical summit in Helsinki which will focus on the replacement of the European Commission leader, Kathimerini has learned.

The fact that the youth event is to take place in Athens is seen as more than symbolic, putting conservative New Democracy at the center of developments with the EPP, to which it belongs, and boosting the influence of ND leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis ahead of general elections.

It is also seen as a victory for ONNED, ND’s youth arm, as the youth chapter of the EPP has a vote in the so-called Spitzenkandidat process, in which parties nominate candidates for the EC.

The parties with the best results in elections to the European Parliament, which oversees the EC, lay claim to the EC’s leadership.