There are many people who identify the European People's Party (EPP) and its member parties as center-right or even right-wing.<\/p>\n
Certainly, there are countries where the EPP's partners show more willingness to associate with conservative parties, as is the case in Italy, but in other cases the opposite is true. In Germany, the CDU (an EPP partner) and the Social Democrats (SPD) have governed together since 2025<\/strong>, as they had previously done from 2005 to 2009 and from 2013 to 2021. Poland is governed by Civic Platform (an EPP partner) in a coalition with left-wing parties<\/a>, with the conservative Law and Justice party in opposition. In Belgium, the CD&V (EPP) governs in a coalition that also includes Vooruit's socialists.<\/strong><\/p>\n In Portugal, the EPP has two partners: the CDS-PP and the PSD<\/strong>. Last year, their coalition won the Portuguese legislative elections<\/a> but without an absolute majority to govern. As soon as the result was known, the PCP communists announced a motion of no confidence against the CDS-PP and PSD coalition.<\/a> In order to prevent the country from being destabilized by the far left, the Chega conservatives supported the new government of the EPP partners.<\/a><\/p>\n However, things changed when the conservatives needed the support of their EPP partners. Chega's candidate, Andr\u00e9 Ventura, managed to advance to the second round of the presidential elections held yesterday. However, the winner was the socialist Ant\u00f3nio Jos\u00e9 Seguro<\/a>, who had the en bloc support of the extreme left<\/a>. However, forgetting Chega's support after the legislative elections, the PSD and the CDS-PP avoided showing their support for Ventura<\/a>, facilitating the victory of the socialist candidate<\/strong>.<\/p>\n What happened in Portugal, like the aforementioned alliances in Germany, Belgium, and Poland, should surprise no one. The EPP governs in coalition with the Socialists in the European Commission.<\/a> It has done so for many years. In fact, that is one of the reasons why Ursula von der Leyen remains silent in the face of the abuses of the rule of law by the Socialist Pedro S\u00e1nchez in Spain<\/strong>, after having been highly critical of the conservative governments of Poland and Hungary. Ultimately, the EPP and the Socialists have a clear alignment on issues such as abortion<\/a>, gender ideology, climate alarmism, and social democratic economic policies.<\/p>\n The obvious question is: if the EPP and the Socialists are so similar ideologically, why call the EPP \"center-right\" or \"right-wing\"?<\/strong> Given their close alignment, the most accurate way to distinguish them would be to speak of \"blue socialism\" and \"red socialism,\"<\/strong> referring to their corporate colors. In fact, this alignment between the EPP and the Socialists explains why the People's Party has such a difficult relationship with Vox in Spain<\/strong>, seeking its support without altering any of the progressive consensus policies that the PP has been forging hand in hand with the Socialists of the PSOE.<\/p>\n ---<\/p>\n
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