Test passed. Ursula von der Leyen has been proclaimed today in Bucharest as the candidate of the European People’s Party, her political family, to preside over the next European Commission around a common manifesto with more conservative initiatives than the policies that the German has promoted in recent years since the 13th Berlaymont plant, headquarters of the institution, where he works and lives. Of the 489 valid votes cast, 400 were in favor of Von der Leyen and 89 were against, the party announced, explaining that 10 additional votes have been declared invalid. The participation was 62% since there were a total of 801 delegates with the right to vote and, therefore, about 300 have chosen not to vote or have not traveled to the Romanian capital. “There are 90 days left until the elections, now is the time to go on the ground to convince the people, win their hearts and minds!” exclaimed the EPP candidate as soon as the result was known.
Von der Leyen was the surprise candidate that the European Council pulled out of its sleeve in 2019 when Emmanuel Macron and Viktor Orbán refused to accept the candidate to preside over the European Commission from the EPP, the party with the most votes in the European elections. , he asked them (Manfred Weber). From being completely unknown to European public opinion, the German, former Minister of Defense, has become the face of Europe. Even her critics recognize that she has skillfully guided the EU and promoted unprecedented leaps forward to respond to the pandemic and the challenges derived from the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Except for his criticized trip to Israel to give full support to the Government of Benyamin Netanyahu in the midst of the military offensive on Gaza, he has not made any major mistakes during his mandate and in recent weeks he has assumed the hardening of the community policies demanded by his party. as well as the need to win the rural vote. “The EPP will always be the farmers’ party, that must be our message,” Von der Leyen said today in Bucharest, whose executive has responded to European pushback by agreeing to some of his demands. “With leaders like Ursula we can face the challenges before us,” celebrated the Prime Minister of Poland, Donald Tusk, one of the supporters of her candidacy along with the Greek Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who highlighted her “firm leadership in a time of unprecedented challenges.
Five years ago she was elected thanks to the support of the socialists and greens in the European Parliament and, during her mandate, the popular German has relied on them to carry out her legislative proposals, especially those related to the Green Deal, to the point of provoke a revolt within the EPP, which in the last year has voted against several of its initiatives. However, Von der Leyen has had no rivals. The internal maneuvers within the EPP a year ago to promote an alternative candidacy, with a figure more attached to the classic values ??of the party failed, Von der Leyen delayed until the last moment the announcement of her intention to run for a second term and no other popular European party has dared to stand up to him.
“What an honor to be here before you today and ask for your support,” Von der Leyen said in her speech prior to the vote, an intervention filled with memories of her childhood – “my father spoke to us about Europe as if it were part of the family.” ; ‘we must take care of it’, he told us” – in which he has advocated conveying to citizens that Europe “is on their side” and has warned of the risk that the rise of extremism represents for the Union at a time like the current one, with the war on its borders. “The EU is being challenged like never before by populists, nationalists and demagogues, whether from the extreme right or the extreme left. Be it the AfD, National Regroupment or the Confederatia… The names may be different but their objective is the same: they want to trample on our values ??and destroy our Europe, but we, the EPP, will never allow it,” he assured.
But precisely his party’s nods to ultra-conservative formations, both in terms of political program and possible post-electoral alliances, have led the socialists and other European progressive groups to leave their support for Von der Leyen’s re-election up in the air when – in principle, in September – put to a vote the foreseeable proposal of the European Council that he remain at the head of the Commission for five more years. This is what the leader of the social democratic group in the European Parliament, Iratxe García, warned today in Brussels during a breakfast with journalists, reports the Efe agency: “I wouldn’t do it. Am I going to negotiate the green agenda with the socialists and with the Conservatives? and European Reformists (ECR) that I am not going to do anything on the green agenda? And the day after being elected, what do I do?”, García stated. “Whoever has the responsibility to negotiate must be careful.”
