Europe’s centre-right party clears path for von der Leyen’s re-election, despite some objection

“We’re the social gathering of the individuals and we ship on what individuals care about,” Von der Leyen mentioned as she sought the EPP social gathering’s assist at its congress in Bucharest.

“Prosperity. Safety. Democracy. That is what individuals care about in these tough occasions.”

Her re-election bid was authorised in a secret poll of EPP delegates, lawmakers and leaders – together with the likes of Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar – because the social gathering gathered in the Romanian capital to gear up in direction of June’s crunch election.

However 89 of the 489 legitimate votes solid within the poll rejected her candidacy, giving von der Leyen a assist fee of 82%. With 801 delegates in Bucharest with a proper to vote, EPP sources weren’t in a position to verify why some 300 delegates didn’t solid their vote.

The EPP group is comfortably forward within the polls and is tipped to stay the European Parliament’s largest faction, making von der Leyen a agency favorite to clinch the position of European Fee President.

In a speech earlier on Thursday, she promised peace, prosperity and safety for Europeans, vowing to proceed to firmly again Ukraine, bolster Europe’s financial competitiveness, safeguard the rule of legislation, and crack down on irregular migration.

“It’s us, Europeans, who resolve who involves Europe and underneath what circumstances,” she mentioned. Her social gathering’s manifesto, unveiled on Wednesday, features a controversial plan to outsource asylum purposes to “protected” third nations primarily based on the UK’s ‘Rwanda mannequin’.

When questioned concerning the legality of that mannequin, von der Leyen mentioned that it’s “completely clear that no matter we do can be in full respect of our obligations underneath EU and worldwide legislation,” including that the idea of protected third nations is already enshrined in EU legislation.

“Our manifesto is written in view of EU legislation,” she repeated.

She additionally paid a particular tribute to Europe’s farmers – who’ve slammed Brussels’ forms in protests throughout EU nations in current months – and mentioned her social gathering will resist the rising risk of political extremes.

Talking to Euronews on Wednesday, EPP chairman Manfred Weber assured von der Leyen was a “agency chief”, with a number of German delegates claiming her observe file reveals she is the proper lady for the job.

However she doesn’t draw the identical enthusiasm from all nationwide delegations inside her group.

The president of the French Les Républicains (“The Republicans”) social gathering, Eric Ciotti, addressed a harshly-worded letter to Weber on Wednesday accusing von der Leyen of embodying a “technocratic drift” that has alienated the European Union from the Europeans it claims to serve. The social gathering despatched no senior leaders from Paris to the social gathering congress in Bucharest.

She additionally acquired the chilly shoulder from two of the three Slovenian conservative events in her group, who cited her “weak” management and diminished inexperienced credentials.

Von der Leyen has constructed a powerful repute in Europe and additional afield for spearheading the bloc’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the following vitality disaster and the deepening local weather emergency, topping Forbes’ energy checklist twice throughout her five-year mandate.

However she isn’t seen on the bottom in Brussels or different EU capitals, and has drawn criticism for isolating herself throughout the Berlaymont, the Fee’s headquarters in Brussels.

She has additionally sparked controversy for just lately rowing again on her beforehand unconditional assist for bold environmental legislations, and for her reluctance to name out Israel for the extreme lack of civilian life in Gaza.

One-horse race

Her major rival, the socialist Nicolas Schmit whose social gathering polls second, has been described as a ‘good soldier despatched to battle’ and is all however assured to lose the race. They may go face to face underneath the ‘Spitzenkandidaten’ course of, wherein Europe’s major political teams discipline a candidate to guide the European Fee, the bloc’s highly effective govt arm.

Von der Leyen was unexpectedly chosen for the position in 2019 after French President Emmanuel Macron picked her as an appropriate candidate, regardless of not operating as a Spitzenkandidaten. The transfer solid doubt over the credibility of the method, which has repeatedly been bypassed by EU leaders.

She would require the backing of all 27 EU leaders and the newly-elected European Parliament to safe the position. A number of EPP delegates claimed this process could be a mere “formality” and that she would cruise unchallenged to the highest job.

If she wins the backing of EU leaders, von der Leyen would then want a majority of members of the newly elected European Parliament to green-light her nomination. In 2019, she handed that take a look at by a razor-thin margin of simply 9 votes. 

However in Bucharest, her political allies had been assured that this time can be totally different.

Von der Leyen might depend on members of the right-wing European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR), set to realize seats within the new parliament’s formation. Additionally on the proper is the far-right Id and Democracy (ID) group, which harbours the likes of Marine Le Pen’s Rassemblement Nationwide and Various for Germany.

“Our peaceable and united Europe is being challenged like by no means earlier than by populists, by nationalists, by demagogues, whether or not it is the far-right or the far-left,” von der Leyen advised the congress. “The purpose is similar, they wish to trample on our values they usually wish to destroy our Europe, and we the EPP won’t ever let that occur.”

Because the June vote attracts nearer, von der Leyen should juggle the 2 roles of European Fee President and EPP lead candidate, constructing a firewall between her two groups and campaigns with a view to adjust to stringent guidelines on political campaigning.

We’ll ship on a ‘defence union’

Von der Leyen, a former German defence minister, additionally established defence as a key precedence for her potential future mandate.

She needs to bolster Europe’s conflict-readiness with extra harmonised funding within the defence business, and to designate a brand new EU defence commissioner to supervise the creation of a “Single Marketplace for defence.”

“We should turbo-charge our defence business capability. Europe should spend extra, should spend higher, and should spend extra European,” she mentioned.

“The EPP is the social gathering that has championed a Europe that may defend itself – and we would be the social gathering that delivers a Defence Union.”

The social gathering’s manifesto additionally floats the prospect of a European nuclear deterrent, first unveiled by French President Emmanuel Macron.

However some on the Congress known as for Europe to go additional, with Italy’s overseas minister and EPP vice-president Antonio Tajani saying that the EU ought to think about having its personal military. “Making an amazing leap”, he mentioned, would enable the bloc to “play a task as bearers of peace within the Center East and Africa.”