German politician Manfred Weber, president of the European People’s Party, has once again put himself in a controversial position. After he managed to get the German Christian Democratic Union (CDU) to back Ursula von der Leyen in her bid to become President of the European Commission for a second term, he set about shaping the European People’s Party in his own liking.
He naturally started with a serious purge. For example, he removed Simon Busuttil, who was considered a confidant of the European Parliament president Roberta Metsola and had previously performed the duties of general secretary in the European People’s Party, and replaced him with his own former chief of staff.
Ouarda Bensouag thus became the new general secretary of the European People’s Party, so Weber surrounded himself with his own confidants at the helm of the largest European party family.
However, according to Spanish newspaper La Gaceta, Bensouag’s appointment is not without problems. The Belgian authorities are currently conducting an investigation against the French politician, after it turned out that she irregularly or not at all confessed to her side claims.
Bensouag is not the only one from Weber’s team facing corruption charges: Mario Voigt was director of Weber’s digital campaign in 2019. His immunity for was requested to be waived in May 2022 by prosecutors in Erfurt, Germany, after reasonable suspicion that he had acquired face masks through corrupt means during the pandemic. Because of this, Belgian police also searched the headquarters of the European People’s Party in April 2023.
Belgian national Tom Vandenkendelaere, who has been responsible for Weber’s “relationships with representatives within the party family”, also came under the scrutiny of the authorities after failing to report on a third-party sponsored professional trip, which would have been his duty under the law of the European institutional system.
In the end, the case did not become a major scandal, but instead of Weber having fired him, is now expected to appoint Vandenkendelaere as his new chief of staff.
All this points to the fact that even though right-wing parties – and especially members of the European People’s Party – were quick to publish wrongdoings of European Socialists at the time of Qatargate, they themselves could not say no to temptation either. But given that the president of the group has made allegedly corrupt allies into a direct team supporting him, this might harm the EPP even more in the long run.
