Four years after COVID-19 and two years since the onset of the war in Ukraine, the cost of living remains a pressing issue. Although inflation has eased, prices remain high, contributing to societal tensions and growing polarisation across Europe.
The upcoming European Parliament (EP) election will take place under these challenging circumstances. While the EU has limited influence over the economic performance of its Member States, major European political families are striving to appeal to voters concerned about high prices.
We reviewed the manifestos and pledges of the largest European political factions likely to become part of the governing majority in the next five years. Here’s what we found.
European People’s Party: free market with caution towards China
The EPP’s economic agenda is surprisingly restrained. It is clear evidence that European right-wing parties are mostly afraid of handing out cash, which they believe was the most important driving force behind inflation.
It is no surprise that the EPP’s manifesto mainly focuses on helping European businesses, including SMEs. Competitiveness and productivity are emphasised, as well as the need for free trade agreements with other countries. Deregulation is also mentioned frequently – their summit statement says that the EU “needs to tackle regulatory challenges that European industries and businesses face.” The EPP emphasises the importance of the EU’s Single Market and makes its case to remove barriers that prevent the market from reaching its full potential.
This is classic centre-right economic thinking. However, some protectionism can be detected, especially when China is mentioned: the party family believes that state aid is necessary in key sectors “to boost competitiveness,” such as “chips, critical raw materials, clean tech, and biotech.” Protectionism has taken over both political sides in the US, and it seems like it is happening in Europe as well, even with the pro-business EPP.
Socialists & Democrats: housing and workers’ rights
S&D ties the cost of living crisis to the housing crisis: their manifesto states that the cost of living crisis cannot be solved without first addressing housing affordability challenges. The enemy, in terms of the housing crisis, is profit, which is prioritised over human rights. The socialists propose increased public investment in social housing while regulating the entire European housing market to bring down prices and rents.
Another promise of the Socialist family is to fight for a proper minimum wage for all Europeans. They reference the Directive on Adequate Minimum Wages from 2022, take credit for it, and offer it as a model for helping workers. With ever-tightening European cooperation, S&D seems to be moving towards a real European minimum wage. While the modern left is often accused of not caring about the working class, S&D emphasises the importance of the people who ‘keep our societies afloat’: cashiers, cooks, waiters, and others.
S&D even takes up the case of platform workers such as Uber drivers. The party family’s manifesto states that while this new type of employment might sound good, the reality is that workers take all the risks while these (mostly tech) companies get rich at their expense. The socialists call on the EU to pass laws that ‘guarantee platform workers have the same rights as any other worker.’
Renew Europe: focus on the youth
Renew Europe’s unique message is that in order to effectively solve the cost of living crisis, Europe’s young people must be assisted through these difficult times. For example, Renew Europe criticises the practice of unpaid internships and campaigns to ban it altogether. This is also one of the core messages of Renew Europe’s youth wing, LMYEC, which calls these types of internships unjust and exploitative.
The party family also highlights that 25 percent of European children are at risk of poverty. Renew, as part of the current governing coalition, lists the results achieved in combating child poverty over the past five years. One of these is the EU Child Guarantee program, which calls on Member States to ‘guarantee free and effective access for children in need to a set of key services.’ The other is the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+), to which Renew contributed proposals aimed at fighting child poverty.
‘Equal pay for equal work’ is a well-known liberal rallying cry, and Renew Europe is using this message in its campaign to position itself as the only party family truly fighting for this cause. The party family takes credit for the legislation on Pay Transparency, which “grants employees the right to information” on key elements of salaries, including the gender pay gap.
The European Greens: green economy and taxing the rich
The European Greens might have an easier time making grandiose promises than the previous three families: they were not part of the governing coalition, so they can freely criticise Europe’s ‘failure’ to protect people from the cost of living crisis.
While spending money to save the planet and spending money to secure livelihoods might sound like mutually exclusive promises (at least according to right-wing parties), the Greens strive to tie the two goals together. Their main promise is a €200 billion per year investment to “build a prosperous economy.” The plan includes:
- Expanding public transport to make commuting cheaper and easier,
- Installing solar panels to bring down energy prices,
- Creating jobs in the construction, energy, and transport sectors to combat high unemployment rates.
The Greens’ program shows a lot of similarities with that of the S&D: the party family advocates for higher wages for workers and affordable housing, but goes further—at least in words—when explaining how they will pay for their plans: “tax the rich”.
European Conservatives and Reformists: prioritising jobs
In its economic messaging, the ECR is not that different from the EPP. Their main focus is the creation of jobs, which they believe will help Europe get back on its feet after the COVID-19 years. ECR’s proposals are decidedly business-friendly: they want to reduce barriers within the EU’s Single Market and fight against any kind of “suffocating regulation that the EU has adopted and applied to businesses.” ECR acts as the defender of local businesses, which are hurt by “mindless bureaucracy and unnecessary laws.”
The ECR also takes a jab at green proposals: while they support the fight against climate change, they call for “sensible” measures that do not hurt businesses and Member States. “Rather than unrealistic targets which will never be fulfilled or properly implemented, the ECR Group supports an ambitious, incremental, and sensible approach that all Member States can support,” they say. In other words, overly ambitious green proposals are too idealistic, and they present themselves as the adults in the room.
Identity and Democracy: the champion of the forgotten Europeans
As we earlier wrote, Identity and Democracy’s main focus is on those Europeans who feel like the losers of the new economic order of the past decades. ID is speaking to the ‘forgotten’ citizens, drawing a clear contrast with the ‘elite class’ who look down on them.
This contrast is evident in ID’s strong criticism of the European Commission’s Green Deal. ID makes it clear that, according to their view, the deal forces ‘significant economic sacrifices’ for unattainable goals. One example is how the Green Deal forces property owners to conduct expensive renovations without providing sufficient support.
They draw another clear contrast with the Greens regarding the Nature Restoration Law, saying that it only causes trouble for European citizens, who have to bear the cost of such large projects.
An example they mention is the difficulties caused by agricultural regulations that only lead to higher costs. European farmers have been protesting for a long time, and ID wants them to know that they are on their side. ID says that the farmers’ protests are the direct consequences of Green Deal policies and their effect on agriculture.
The European Left: tax the corporations
The European Left – as always – sounds like a turbocharged combination of the S&D and the Greens.
The party family lashes out at any kind of EU austerity. They use the governing coalition as a punching bag, saying that “under the disguise of reform, European Conservatives, Liberals, and Socialists pave the way for the ruthless return to austerity,” referring to new fiscal rules approved in April. Instead, the Left emphasises the need to help low-paid workers through large European-level investments in public services.
They also propose a new tax on “excessive corporate profits,” ranging from 20 to 40 percent, which could generate more than €100 billion per year for the EU to redistribute. The Left simply says that any austerity could be replaced by proper taxation of the largest global companies.
Regarding climate change, the Left is surprisingly bold: they clearly state that saving the planet is a priority, making it clear that they “oppose policies that favour economic growth at the expense of environmental health.” Of course, they add that the fight against climate change can simultaneously be a fight for economic justice.
Final thoughts
As the EP elections approach, understanding the varied responses of political families to the cost of living crisis is crucial for voters. Each faction’s strategy offers insights into their priorities and the potential direction of Europe’s economic future.
