The Patriots for Europe Group has issued a strong appeal from Madrid calling for “new leadership to make Europe strong again,” warning that the European Union is losing its competitiveness and prosperity under the current European Commission.
The statement, titled “Madrid Declaration on Protecting European Prosperity, Competitiveness and Jobs,” is a direct indictment of Ursula von der Leyen’s policies, which the group accuses of “exceeding its powers and failing to confront the main economic and social challenges of our time.”
“We firmly oppose this Commission’s deviation from the founding pillars of prosperity and peace on which the Union was built,” the declaration states, condemning the president of the Commission for having “chosen to pursue an agenda dictated by leftist activists and to blackmail countries through ideological conditionality.”
The Patriots argue that the EU’s trade policy has abandoned fairness and transparency, citing negotiations with Mercosur and the United States that “force our producers to compete on an unlevel playing field.” Internally, they say, the combination of the Green Deal, new taxes, and the planned phase-out of combustion engines by 2035 has produced “a bureaucratic, fiscal and regulatory slog that leaves European companies with a stark choice: closure or relocation abroad.”
In a message posted on social media, the group declares, “We are alarmed by the rising energy prices in Europe, which represent a major obstacle to the EU’s competitiveness.” They accuse the Commission of “endangering energy security” through unrealistic environmental goals, arguing that the resulting surge in prices “harms our businesses and families.”
The declaration also places particular emphasis on defending Europe’s primary sectors. “We pledge to represent European farmers, livestock breeders and fishermen,” the Patriots affirm, criticizing environmental conditionality and reduced financial support that “undermine the goal of food sovereignty.”
One of the core messages of the Madrid Declaration is the need to dismantle excessive bureaucracy. “We are committed to working to reverse the bureaucratic maze that drives up costs,” it reads, describing the EU’s current system as a “regulatory tsunami that suffocates enterprises, especially SMEs.” The Patriots call for “a genuine national and European preference policy” and “a real reduction in the burden on enterprises, not only cosmetic changes.”
Immigration also features prominently in the statement. The group vows to “denounce the incentives for uncontrolled immigration” promoted by both the Commission and several member states, warning that mass migration “gravely undermines social cohesion, overwhelms integration capacities and weakens the trust and solidarity that bind our nations together.”
Finally, the declaration concludes with a call for political renewal in Brussels: “Europe needs new leadership that achieves a competitive turnaround; that provides a better future for our youth; that facilitates entrepreneurship; that makes Europe competitive again and protects our producers.”
