Message to Macron
Schmit, who holds the commission’s jobs and social rights portfolio, also criticized von der Leyen’s party, the EPP, which is set to come first in the election.
He attacked the EPP for constantly complaining about an excess of rules at the EU level despite having played a large role making them.
“You govern for 20 years, you have the [Commission] presidency and the biggest group at the parliament, and then you discover that there is too much regulation,” he said. “There has been 20 years of EPP presidency. It seems to me that they let [over-regulation] happen, and now they suddenly discover it, they make it their first priority and they try to put the problem on us.”
But the socialist commissioner also had some criticism for French President Emmanuel Macron’s call for a “regulatory break” on EU environmental rules.
“I am a bit confused because there was a sort of idea, shared by the EPP, that we now need to slow down the pace, we need a regulatory break. If that’s the case, there’s a fundamental difference [of views with the French government],” Schmit said, adding he was looking forward to hearing more from French PM Gabriel Attal on France’s position on green files.
