Trumpist echoes, highly topical debates and some interesting revelations in the European electoral debate held yesterday in Maastricht with the theoretical candidates to preside over the next European Commission. In reality, only one of the participants, its current president and member of the European People’s Party, Ursula von der Leyen, has a chance of taking office and from the first moment all of her rivals tried to put the German on the ropes.

“Brussels has become a swamp in which bureaucrats whom no one has elected are going to realize their vision of creating a European super state,” shot the Danish far-right Anders Vistisen. “Our campaign promise is that we will fire 10,000 European officials and I would like to start with you, Ursula von der Leyen,” launched the candidate from Identity and Democracy, one of the groups where far-right parties are active in the chamber. Towards the middle of the debate, when talking about the war in Ukraine, Von der Leyen broke out and said she was “tired” of listening to his reasoning and accused the parties that form it, such as the Alternative for Germany, of being “in Vladimir’s pocket.” Putin” and repeat “his propaganda and his lies.” “Clean your house before coming to criticize us,” snapped the popular German, who wants to make her rejection of the “anti-European and pro-Putin” extreme right, which includes Marine Le Pen’s party, the Italian Lega and Alternative for Germany. one of the axes of his campaign.

The applause garnered by his response quickly died down. The Green candidate, the Dutchman Bas Eickhout, took advantage of the occasion and forced Von der Leyen to clarify whether she would be willing to cooperate with European Reformists and Conservatives –ECR, the group to which Voz and Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy belong. with whom she maintains an excellent relationship, among others – in case the leaders of the Twenty-seven designate her as a candidate to preside over the Commission for one more term and specify her votes in the next Parliament. “It will depend on what its composition is and who is in each group,” finally responded the EPP candidate, a party in which some defend reaching agreements with this political group so as not to depend as much on social democrats and environmentalists as in the legislature that is now ends.

“That answer seemed a little strange to me. European values ??and rights cannot be defined in terms of political pacts. “Either you can work with the extreme right, because you need them, or you say clearly that there is no agreement possible because they do not respect the fundamental rights for which the European Commission has fought,” reproached the head of the list of the European Socialist Party, the Luxembourger Nicolas Schmit. . “In some countries where the ECR extreme right governs, they do not respect them and are abolishing them,” criticized Schmit, current European Commissioner for Employment.

It was the only notable intervention by the socialist candidate throughout the night, from whom he was notably absent, while the environmentalist Eickhout, who was playing at home, and the candidate of the Left, Walter Baier, disputed the complicity and applause of the young audience of the debate, organized by Politico and Maastricht University, by demanding a more demanding European position with Israel in the Gaza war, including sanctions, or demanding the continuity of the Green Agenda. “Climate policies and competitiveness can go hand in hand,” said Von der Leyen, who must strike a balance on the second issue so as not to strain her relations with the EPP, which has turned its back on some of her proposals in this area. and at the same time not lose the support of social democrats and greens, whose votes he will need in case the Twenty-Seven propose that he lead the Commission for one more term.