The president of the European Commission, Ursula Von der Leyen, is the rival to beat in the electoral campaign for the European elections on June 9. The first debate between candidates, held this Monday in the Dutch city of Maastricht, has cleared up any doubts that may exist in this regard. The German, the major electoral poster of the European People’s Party, has become the target of the majority of criticism from its rivals on almost all points addressed: from environmental to foreign policy. The groups have also asked the head of the European Executive about what her pact policy would be after the elections. And that was when she left the door open to ally herself with one of the groups that are to the right of her party when she was asked directly if she would make an agreement with ECR (European Reformists and Conservatives), the party in which she Vox or Brothers of Italy, the party of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, is included: “It depends a lot on the composition of Parliament and who is part of each group,” Von der Leyen said.
During most of the debate, organized by the European edition of the digital newspaper Politicaland Studio Europa, the German has been challenged by her rivals, mainly those who are not part of the grand coalition that has governed the EU almost since its inception (conservatives, liberals, represented by the also German Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, and Social Democrats, with the Luxembourger Nicolas Schmit as the main candidate). She has not shied away from combat. Her scuffle with the Green candidate, the Dutchman Bas Eickhout – the most dynamic of the participants in the debate – when she spoke about her possible alliances after the elections, was one of the highlights of the meeting. . Von der Leyen has made it very clear that she is not willing to make an agreement with the entire extreme right. Its red line leaves out the groups that make up the most right-wing party in Parliament, ID (Identity and Democracy), which includes the parties closest to Russia or less critical of the invasion of Ukraine, including the ultra party. German Alternative for Germany (AfD). The criticism of these formations, both by the German and by other candidates, has been incessant, reproaching their representative, the Danish Anders Vistisen, on several occasions, for scandals such as the arrest last week of an AfD advisor for spying. for China.
But in the next European elections there seem to be two certainties: one, that the German conservative Ursula von der Leyen is the great favorite and another, that ultra groups will have more representation. The latter may call into question the sufficiency of the traditional bloc of parties on which the EU has been built, the moderate grand coalition that brings together social democrats, liberals and conservative Christian Democrats. Hence, Von der Leyen has not ruled out having some of the countries that are within the ECR group. In addition to Vox and the Polish ultra-conservative Law and Justice (PiS), this group also includes Brothers of Italy or the party that governs the Czech Republic. Both formations—such as Jaroslaw Kaczynski’s Poles—have stood out for clearly aligning themselves against Russian aggression against Ukraine.
The possible alliances after the elections have been addressed in the third thematic block that dealt with democracy. The other two faced two issues that have galvanized the European agenda in the last two years: policies against climate change and security and defense. The menu of topics has been selected by Maastricht University based on surveys.
Already in the first part, the environmental part, it has become clear that the target was Von der Leyen. Also that her main rival theorist, the social democrat Nicolas Schmit, was not going to be the most incisive towards her. The Luxembourger has been part of the College of Commissioners, where he has been in charge of the Employment and Social Rights portfolio, during these five years in which Von der Leyen has been at the helm.
Schmit has arrived with a speech of classic social democracy. He has defended the environmental regulations deployed in recent years: “It would be a mistake to stop against climate change.” But he has also pointed towards a more classic social democratic stance when he has spoken of “just climate policy” and that when farmers protest they do so mainly for “income”.
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At this point, Von der Leyen has defended herself from the attacks by advocating “massive investments”, although giving prominence to the private sector. He has not defended increasing public spending when the Left candidate, the Austrian Walter Baier, has reproached him for the fact that the majority of known calculations say that an investment of more than half a billion euros per year is necessary to meet the objectives of decarbonization, but has opted for the Capital Market Union as a way to attract private investment. The green Eickhout also demanded more public spending, even talking about a green fund.
“Immediate ceasefire”
Von der Leyen has also become a target for attacks in the second block of the debate, that of foreign policy. The head of the community Executive has even hardened her position on Israel when she has pointed out that an invasion of Rafah would be “unacceptable” and she has called for an “immediate ceasefire and the release of the hostages.”
This Monday’s debate was the unofficial opening event of the European campaign. Almost all continental political families have been represented with their main headliners, although it so happens that several of them are not candidates to be MEPs. This is the case of Von der Leyen, Schmit or Baier, since they move in a difficult balance: they choose to preside over the European Commission and, however, they do not appear on the electoral lists to be MEPs.
This curious situation responds to the position of the French president, Emmanuel Macron, who rejects that the president of the European Commission should be removed from the list of the parties competing in the elections. And he does it by wielding the Treaty of Lisbon, something like the Constitution in force in the EU at the moment. It says that the European Council – that is, the leaders of the Member States – will choose the person who will chair the Commission taking into account the electoral result and that this election must then be ratified by an absolute majority by Parliament. That French position was decisive in 2019 – when Von der Leyen, then Minister of Defense in Germany and someone whom no one had thought of for the position she now occupies until she was elected – and has had an influence on this decision of the popular and the socialist to be candidates without going on lists.
The only Spanish who is will not be on the lists either. spitzenkandidat, the German word used to designate the headliners of each European family in the European elections, Raül Romeva. He was one of the Catalan politicians convicted by the processes and although he was later pardoned to leave prison, he remains disqualified. However, he did not participate in this debate for EFA (European Free Alliance, the organization that brings together nationalist and regionalist forces) but rather his colleague Maylis Rossberg, who belongs to the Danish minority in Germany. Yes, she is a candidate, on the contrary, the participant of the liberals of Renew, the German Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann.
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