{"id":421077,"date":"2025-03-12T12:13:05","date_gmt":"2025-03-12T11:13:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/2025\/03\/12\/difesa-rischi-misure-sociali-parlamento\/"},"modified":"2025-03-12T14:43:28","modified_gmt":"2025-03-12T13:43:28","slug":"defense-needs-risk-overshadowing-social-measures-as-eu-parliament-grows-restless","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2025\/03\/12\/defense-needs-risk-overshadowing-social-measures-as-eu-parliament-grows-restless\/","title":{"rendered":"Defense needs risk overshadowing social measures as EU Parliament grows restless"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brussels – Sure, there is a need to invest in defense,\u00a0but budget stability and services for citizens are equally important. After acknowledging\u00a0a situation requiring rethinking priorities\u00a0and supporting the plan to rearm Europe<\/a>,\u00a0the European Parliament is concerned with financial\u00a0and social issues\u00a0<\/strong>the following\u00a0day. Defense risks overshadowing all of this, and for different reasons, all political groups emphasize\u00a0the need to\u00a0work to avoid\u00a0disparities.<\/p>\n

The debate intended\u00a0to take stock of the\u00a0European Semester<\/a>, the coordination of member states’ economic policies, served as a reminder that there is more than just defense. On the contrary. “Housing and unemployment are challenges we need to address,” stressed Billy Kelleher<\/strong> (Renew), convinced that “we need to invest in the economy, in citizen services<\/strong>.”\u00a0\u00a0The Socialists (S&D)\u00a0share these concerns with\u00a0Gabriele Bischoff,<\/strong> pointing out\u00a0“also\u00a0investments in schools and digital infrastructure. <\/strong>That’s why within the Socialist group,\u00a0Claire Fita<\/strong> specifically urges not to touch European funds but, rather, to imagine “a European defense investment facility<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n

The harshest and most severe criticism of\u00a0the European Commission’s plan to rearm Europe<\/a> comes from members of groups that are not part of the so-called ‘grand coalition’ or the ‘Ursula majority.’ Among them is\u00a0Manon Aubry<\/strong> (the Left), who attacks, “You find money for tanks but not for hospitals<\/strong>.” Then, the other jab at the Community Executive president, Ursula von der Leyen: “Suddenly there is no more climate change and no more poverty,” she criticizes, referring to the fact that\u00a0the Green Deal and the social agenda\u00a0appear to have been put aside. Also critical are the Greens, who, through Benedetta Scuderi<\/strong>, denounce how “this arms race undermines growth and public finance<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n

However,\u00a0the internal perplexities within the People’s Party (EPP) group stand out the most because they give the sense of internal disagreements within a party and a group that is not entirely satisfied with the Commission. “European funds must be used for their original objectives<\/strong>,” stresses Maravillas Abadia Jover,<\/strong> in what sounds like censure of the idea of diverting\u00a0cohesion funds to finance the defense industry. The report she is responsible\u00a0for<\/a> emphasizes\u00a0the need to\u00a0use structural funds to respond to demographic challenges, affordable housing, and vocational training.<\/p>\n

<\/a>
Adam Szlapka, Poland’s Minister for European Affairs, during the debate on the European Semester [Strasbourg, March 12, 2025]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

However, it is on\u00a0the proposal to loosen the Stability Pact rules<\/a>\u00a0that the EPP expresses doubts.<\/strong>\u00a0Portugal’s Lidia Pereira <\/strong>notes\u00a0that “there are countries with high debt” and that “markets look where the risks are.” So she urges caution\u00a0on allowing public defense spending because, she warns, “if we increase debt, we expose ourselves to the risk of new crises<\/strong>.” The line to take, therefore, is, “Yes to defense cooperation, but no to new debt.” Abadia Jover adds: “We must not have new debt, which will fall\u00a0on future generations.” Meanwhile,\u00a0Fernando Navarrete Rojas<\/strong> defends the stability pact<\/strong>: “We have to make sure that the rules are credible for citizens and markets.”<\/p>\n

The Stability Pact is neither being changed nor reformed: this is the concept that Adam Szlapka<\/strong>, Minister for European Affairs of Poland, made clear speaking in the House to represent the proposals related to loosening stability pact constraints<\/a>. “For the Polish presidency, implementing the new Stability Pact is crucial<\/strong>,” he cuts short. “The time has come to implement what we have agreed” in the EU because “economic and financial stability remain crucial” for the future of the EU as a whole.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After supporting Europe’s rearmament plan Socialists, Liberals, and Populars emphasize the need to protect jobs, demographic crisis, and housing policies. The EPP defends stability pact: “Indebtedness is a risk”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":494,"featured_media":408706,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard","override":[{"template":"1","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0","subtitle":""},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25681,30809],"tags":[30702,27336,30670,30703,25755,29059,30542,26708,25740,25884,26444],"class_list":{"0":"post-421077","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-politics","8":"category-defence-security","9":"tag-services-to-the-citizen-en","10":"tag-news-parliament-en","11":"tag-housing-en","13":"tag-session-plenary-en","14":"tag-accounts-public-en","15":"tag-pact-of-stability-en","16":"tag-work-en"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421077","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/494"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=421077"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421077\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":421096,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421077\/revisions\/421096"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/408706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=421077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=421077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=421077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}