By ideologically aligning with the parties gathered in the Centrist Democratic International (CDI), a global alliance of Christian Democrats and the center-right, in which the Hungarian and Croatian prime ministers play an important role Viktor Orban i Andrej Plenkovic, Europe Now Movement (PES) Milojko Spajić It is moving away from the liberal and progressive center and closer to the European right.
This was assessed for "Vijesti" by the editor-in-chief of the "European Western Balkans" portal, Nemanja Todorović Štiplija.
On November 23, PES announced that it had formalized its membership in the organization. At the meeting of the CDI Executive Committee and General Assembly in Sao Paulo, Brazil, PES was represented by members of the party's presidency. Filip Ivanovic i Maida Gorcevic and the international secretary of that party Gordan Stojović.
The CDI is headquartered in Brussels and brings together 110 parties. A large number of the parties that are part of this alliance are also members of the European People's Party (EPP).
Some of the members of this CDI are Orban's Fidesz, Plenković's Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), and the German Chancellor's Christian Democratic Union (CDU). Friedrich Merz, Democratic Party (Albania) Salija Berish, French Republicans, People's Party from Spain, Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians from Serbia, Batkivshchina of the former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulije Tymoshenko, the Slovenian Democratic Party of the former Prime Minister of that country Janez Janša...
The leader of that alliance is the former president of Colombia. Andres Pastrana Arango, and vice presidents, among others, Plenković, Orban, Janša, former president of Ecuador Guillermo Lasso...
The CDI was founded in 1961 as the World Union of Christian Democrats. It traces its roots back to the period between the two world wars, has branches in Europe, Latin America, Africa and Asia, and in 1999 changed its name to CDI due to the approach of non-Christian parties.
Todorović Štiplija explains that the CDI is a global political alliance that brings together parties of the center-right, Christian democracy, and the conservative center.
"Ideologically, it is a broad family that combines elements of traditional conservative values, economic liberalization and a moderate, democratic center. Its membership also includes major European parties, including those that are members of the EPP, which makes the CDI a kind of 'broader umbrella' of European Christian democracy," he said.
He states that, in this context, the positioning of PES in the CDI says much more about Spajić's party than about the alliance itself.
"With this election, PES is actually signaling that, despite modern rhetoric and economic liberalism, it is ideologically positioning itself closer to the European center-right than to the liberals or the progressive center," Todorović Štiplija assessed.
He said that such a turn of events by PES became clear at the beginning of this year, when the party's MP Nadja Laković "almost silently" in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, she moved from the liberal parliamentary group (ALDE) to the EPP parliamentary group.
He added that, viewed in continuity, the expected next step would be observer status or associate membership of the PES in the EPP, which, according to him, would formalize their further rapprochement with the European "populist" family.
"I saw PES as a modern party of the center, with a liberal approach to the economy and policies reminiscent of Scandinavian or Western European models of the 'new center'. I did not expect such a sudden political turn, but it is now obvious that the combination of PES's insufficient experience at the European party level and the strong influence of the EPP in the Western Balkans played a decisive role," the interviewee concluded.
He said that he does not see a place for the PES in the EPP - "the European political family in which the Serbian Progressive Party still sits."
PES did not respond to "Vijesti"'s questions - why they decided to become part of the CDI, whether they considered other organizations, why they see themselves in an alliance that includes, among others, HDZ and Orban's Fidesz, and where PES stands ideologically.
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