EPP Congress in Bucharest on 6-7 March - List of Speakers
04. March 2024
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The European People’s Party (EPP) will hold its Congress on 6-7 March 2024 at Romexpo in Bucharest, Romania.
Co-hosted by Partidul Naţional Liberal (PNL), EPP President Manfred WEBER and EPP Secretary General Thanasis BAKOLAS, the Congress will bring together our political family to reaffirm our political values and principles, focus on the preparations for the European Parliament elections in June, adopt the EPP manifesto, as well as elect the party's lead candidate for President of the European Commission.
Approximately 2000 participants from 44 countries have been invited to take part.
For more details on the Congress, please visit the dedicated website https://www.epp2024.eu/.
EPP Congress Day I
The first day, Wednesday 6 March, will open with welcome remarks from PNL President Nicolae CIUCĂ, RMDSZ President Hunor KELEMEN and EPP President Manfred WEBER. The focus will then turn to EPP’s strong position and success at local and regional levels, before the floor opens to three Davos-style panel discussions on i) Security and Defence, ii) Intergenerational Solidarity and iii) Economy and Jobs. The programme will continue with an engaging presentation of the party’s manifesto ahead of the European Parliament elections.
In the “Debate Focusing on the Voice of Villages, Cities and Regions,” organised with the EPP Group in the Committee of the Regions (CoR), the list of speakers includes Olgierd GEBLEWICZ (President of the EPP Group in CoR), Sven SCHULZE (Minister for Economic Affairs, Tourism, Agriculture and Forestry of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany), Isabel DÍAZ AYUSO (President of the Community of Madrid, Spain), Rafal TRZASKOWSKI (Mayor of Warsaw, Poland), Apostolos TZITZIKOSTAS (Governor of Central Macedonia Region, Greece) and Emil BOC (Mayor of Cluj-Napoca, Romania).
In the panel discussion on Security and Defence, the participants are Davor STIER (Chairman of EPP Group in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe), Vilija ALEKNAITÉ-ABRAMIKIENÉ (Chairwoman EPP Group in OSCE Parliamentary Assembly) and Andrius KUBILIUS (Chairman EPP Group EURONEST Parliamentary Assembly).
In the panel discussion on Intergenerational Solidarity, the participants include Beppe GALEA (President EDS), An HERMANS (President ESU), Lidia PEREIRA (President YEPP) and Mikuláš DZURINDA (Wilfried Martens Centre President).
In the panel discussion on Economy and Jobs, the participants include Ivan ŠTEFANEC (President SME Europe), Dennis RADTKE (President EUCDW) and Rozalia BIRO (President EPP Women).
After the conclusion of the third panel, Ingrida ŠIMONYTÉ (Prime Minister, Lithuania) will address the Congress.
The next section of Day I features the speeches of our leaders from non – EU countries but also from like-minded leaders. The list of speakers includes Sviatlana TSIKHANOUSKAYA (Belarus), Petro POROSHENKO (Ukraine), Lumir ABDIXHIKU (Kosovo), Ervin IBRAHIMOVIĆ (Montenegro), Hristijan MICKOSKI (North Macedonia), Borjana KRIŠTO (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Gian Carlo VENTURINI (San Marino) and Presidents Viola AMHERD (Switzerland) and Maia SANDU (Moldova).
A special panel will be dedicated to the presentation of the EPP’s electoral manifesto. President Weber will take the floor to present the EPP’s vision on “The Europe We Want,” before inviting the EPP Vice-Presidents to respond to questions from European citizens on what they expect from our party in the upcoming European elections.
The list of speakers includes Vice-Presidents Andrezj HALICKI (Civic Platform, Poland), David McALLISTER (CDU, Germany) and Antonio TAJANI (Forza Italia, Italy), Esteban GONZÁLEZ PONS (Partido Popular, Spain), Johannes HAHN (ÖVP, Austria), Siegfried MUREŞAN (PNL, Romania), Paolo RANGEL (PSD, Portugal), Dubravka ŠUICA (HDZ, Croatia), Esther DE LANGE (CDA, The Netherlands) and Mariya GABRIEL (GERB, Bulgaria).
The discussion will conclude with a vote on the manifesto, before Secretary General Thanasis Bakolas presents the main political and electoral achievements of EPP.
EPP Congress Day II
The second day of the Congress, Thursday 7 March, will be dedicated to the election of the EPP’s lead candidate for the Presidency of the European Commission. Our Heads of State or Government, EPP Deputy Prime Ministers and EPP Opposition Leaders will also take centre stage.
The day will start with speeches from EPP opposition leaders. The list of speakers includes Bernard GRECH (Partit Nazzjonalista, Malta), Annita DEMETRIOU (DISY, Cyprus), Urmas REINSALU (Isamaa, Estonia), Janez JANŠA (SDS, Slovenia), Boyko BORISSOV (GERB, Bulgaria), Markus SÖDER (CSU, Germany), Friedrich MERZ (CDU, Germany) and Alberto NÚÑEZ FEIJÓO (Partido Popular, Spain). Luis MONTENEGRO (PSD, Portugal) will deliver his message in a video.
EPP President Weber will then deliver a speech and introduce the EPP’s nominee for lead candidate. A speech by the lead candidate will follow and the voting will begin. Voting is by secret ballot.
Following the lead candidate’s speech, EPP Deputy Prime Ministers and Heads of State or Government will deliver their speeches. The Deputy Prime Ministers’ list of speakers include Marian JUREČKA (KDU-ČSL, Czechia), Karien VAN GENNIP (CDA, The Netherlands), Vincent VAN PETEGHEM (CD&V, Belgium), Mariya GABRIEL (GERB, Bulgaria) and Antonio TAJANI (Forza Italia, Italy).
The following EPP Heads of State or Government will deliver speeches, Prime Ministers Petteri ORPO (Kokoomus, Finland), Luc FRIEDEN (CSV, Luxembourg) President Nikos CHRISTODOULIDES (Cyprus), Federal Chancellor Karl NEHAMMER (ÖVP, Austria), Taoiseach Leo VARADKAR (Fine Gael, Ireland), Prime Ministers Andrej PLENKOVIĆ (HDZ, Croatia), Donald TUSK (Civic Platform, Poland) and Kyriakos MITSOTAKIS (Nea Demokratia, Greece).
The President of the European Parliament Roberta METSOLA will take centre stage immediately after. The President of Romania Klaus IOHANNIS will close the speeches on Day II.
The last part of Day II will include the official announcement of the voting result on the election of the EPP’s lead candidate for the Presidency of the European Commission and the acceptance speech.
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For more information contact:
Alexandra Henman
Deputy Spokesperson
+32 471 90 76 84
alh@epp.eu
Angelos Athanasopoulos
National and Regional Press Director
+32 471 90 76 35aa@epp.eu
Manifesto 2012
The EPP Manifesto, also adopted at the 2012 EPP Congress in Bucharest, outlines the basic principles of the Party summary.
The EPP Manifesto, also adopted at the 2012 EPP Congress in Bucharest, outlines the basic principles of the Party summarising who we are, what our values are, what challenges are we facing and what vision we have for the future. The Manifesto was developed in parallel to the EPP Platform document within the EPP Working Group 1 for “European Policy”.
Platform
The EPP Platform is the core programme of our party outlining our main values, explaining the challenges our society is facing and presenting our vision for the future of European Union.
The EPP Platform is the core programme of our party outlining our main values, explaining the challenges our society is facing and presenting our vision for the future of European Union.
The Party Platform was developed in EPP Working Group 1 for “European Policy” chaired by EPP President Wilfried MARTENS ?and EPP Vice President Peter HINTZE. The Working Group consists of delegates of EPP member parties who prepared and worked?on this document for more than two years and received input?from the drafting committee as well as senior and young experts. The document was adopted at the 2012 EPP Congress in Bucharest, thus replacing the Basic Programme of Athens from 1992.
