Civil war at the top of the European People’s Party

BRUSSELS — There’s a major split at the top of Europe’s largest political family, the European People’s Party (EPP).

A personnel dispute has revealed a spat involving heavy hitter Manfred Weber, who faces a rare challenge from another EPP power player, Thanasis Bakolas.

It comes as Weber — who is both leader of the EPP group in the European Parliament and president of the European political party of the same name — launches a conversation on reforming the latter during the second day of the EPP’s political assembly in Brussels, which takes place Tuesday.

Last Friday, Bakolas, the EPP party’s secretary-general, informed the party’s leadership that he would need to dismiss Tom Vandenkendelaere. A Belgian who recently lost his seat in the European Parliament, Vandenkendelaere had started just weeks earlier as Weber’s hand-picked choice to be “director of member party engagement.”

However, as Bakolas alleged in an email viewed by Brussels Playbook, Weber quickly followed up by sending around a new organigram and declaring in a text message that Vandenkendelaere would instead act as the party’s chief of staff. 

“I cannot oblige and enforce the demands of the President,” Bakolas wrote in response to Weber’s move. 

The chief of staff position as described isn’t allowed under the party’s rules or Belgian law, and as secretary-general it’s Bakolas who would be legally responsible for infractions, he argued.

Weber power plays

After failing in a bid for European Commission president and ditching plans to run for European Parliament president, Weber pivoted to accumulating power inside the EPP’s party machinery. 

He has installed loyalists in key EPP roles and dispatched potential critics and rivals. In the EPP group, for instance, Secretary-General Simon Busuttil is on his way out to make way for Weber’s head of Cabinet, Ouarda Bensouag. 

Weber is one of the most influential people in Brussels — arguably second only to Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. The decision to appoint Vandenkendelaere was the latest in a series of maneuvers Weber has executed to tighten his grip on the EPP machinery. But Bakolas’ open insubordination is unprecedented.

Looming behind the personnel dispute is a larger clash over the direction of the EPP, which under Weber’s leadership has cozied up to hard-right leaders like Giorgia Meloni. The rapprochement — Weber met with Meloni in Rome this summer — has angered some inside the EPP who believe the Bavarian politician is yanking the party too far to the right.

Weber allies say he’s determined to fully capitalize on the EPP’s growing power and see its players in the EU institutions work more seamlessly with the national parties.

The party’s presidency committee met Monday before the political assembly started. The outcome of the meeting was that Weber, as EPP president, would sign a contract that would make Vandenkendelaere his head of Cabinet, according to an excerpt of a paper circulated and adopted at that meeting, viewed by Playbook.

While the EPP group is all about MEPs, the EPP party exists to serve national leaders and parties. Bakolas, who is close to Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, appears to be making a gamble that EPP-linked leaders such as Polish PM Donald Tusk, Finnish PM Petteri Orpo and German Christian Democratic Union leader Friedrich Merz will back him and intervene to rein in Weber.

If they don’t, it would solidify Weber’s position as the unassailable EPP top dog.

“Mr. Weber tends to win these little battles,” observed a senior EPP member, granted anonymity to comment on sensitive party dynamics.

Bakolas declined to comment and an EPP spokesperson did not reply to a text message seeking reply. Vandenkendelaere referred questions to Weber’s team and Weber could not be reached for comment. 

The power plays and recriminations come as the EPP remains strong. It came in first in the European Parliament election in June, reinstalled von der Leyen with a more conservative platform and is on track to grow its dominant footprint in the European Council.

The senior EPP member quoted above noted that Vandenkendelaere is “exceptionally well-regarded.” Nonetheless, the member added, “These sort of power plays … can unnecessarily give rise to trouble that isn’t needed.”

Nicholas Vinocur and Barbara Moens contributed to this report.