Greek PM urges ‘progressive’ alliance against Weber

Europe’s progressive forces have a responsibility to prevent the election of Manfred Weber, the European Peoples Party’s (EPP) lead candidate for the upcoming European elections, as president of the European Commission, said Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras Thursday.

“The progressive forces of Europe must fight off the possibility of a post-election alliance between the EPP and the far right,” Tsipras told a meeting of the Party of European Socialists (PES) in Brussels, while calling for a “strategic convergence against neoliberalism and nationalism which feed the far right.”

Weber's election as European Commission president would mark the collaboration between the right and the far right, said Tsipras, adding that such a political project would be “catastrophic for the future of Europe.”