French conservatives blast von der Leyen’s ‘technocratic drift,’ oppose re-election bid
Forward of the congress of the European Folks’s Celebration (EPP), the French delegation has come strongly in opposition to the re-election bid of Ursula von der Leyen, denouncing her as “the candidate of Mr Macron and never the suitable.”
Von der Leyen is predicted to be elected by acclamation because the EPP’s lead candidate for the elections of the European Parliament throughout a two-day congress in Bucharest, which kicks off on Wednesday. The nomination will make von der Leyen the indeniable frontrunner to preside over the European Fee for one more 5 years.
However in a intentionally timed letter, the French delegation of the EPP from the Les Républicains (“The Republicans”) social gathering, revealed a scathing letter blasting von der Leyen’s coverage legacy and leaving little doubt of their opposition to her re-election.
Les Républicains are in opposition within the French Meeting and assist President Emmanuel Macron’s liberal authorities on a case-by-case foundation.
“For a lot too lengthy, the Union has distanced itself from the individuals of Europe and fed their mistrust by constructing partitions in technocratic reflexes. We can not resign ourselves to this disaster of confidence,” Eric Ciotti, president of Les Républicains, writes within the letter.
“To face future challenges, Europe wants readability. Europe wants profound adjustments and a renewal on the high of the European Fee. The outgoing Fee president can’t be this candidate as a result of she embodies exactly this technocratic drift.”
Ciotti castigates von der Leyen as a result of she didn’t run as a lead candidate beneath the so-called Spitzenkandidaten system in 2019 and was as an alternative hand-picked by Macron as a conservative determine who was reasonable and versatile sufficient to appease the progressive faction of the European Council.
Von der Leyen’s shocking appointment enraged the European Parliament, which confirmed her bid by a razor-thin margin. She later tried to make amends by placing ahead an formidable, far-reaching agenda that included the European Inexperienced Deal, a €750-billion restoration fund, the joint procurement of vaccines, 13 rounds of sanctions in opposition to Russia, the opening of accession talks with Ukraine, a complete reform of migration and asylum coverage, and ground-breaking laws to rein in AI and Huge Tech.
Ciotti hones in on a few of these initiatives to denounce von der Leyen’s mandate as overly progressive and opposite to conservative values, straight blaming her for the farmer protests which have lately swept throughout Europe. The backlash has put von der Leyen in an ungainly place, caught between her staunch defence of the Inexperienced Deal and the right-wing strain of her political household.
“A candidate of Mr Macron and never the suitable, she has repeatedly left the European majority drift in the direction of the left,” Ciotti says.
“This was notably the case on environmental and agricultural points, but additionally within the administration of the migration disaster. This drift has fuelled anger that may now be heard all through the continent, notably amongst our farmers and our fishers.”
Ciotti then goes on to excoriate von der Leyen for, in his view, having embraced “anti-nuclear dogmas” and “de-growth insurance policies promoted by the left,” and “failing to confront mass immigration and safe the exterior borders,” an obvious reference to the regular rise of asylum requests after the pandemic. In 2023, the bloc obtained 1.14 million functions for worldwide safety, a seven-year excessive.
Ciotti additionally censures von der Leyen for having participated in an occasion of Renaissance, Macron’s social gathering, again in October, one thing that, for him, displays her lack of social gathering loyalty.
“By giving the impression to the European those who Europe is being constructed with out them, and even in opposition to them, Ms von der Leyen and Mr Macron are risking a dramatic and harmful weakening of the European mission,” Ciotti says.
The letter is addressed to Manfred Weber, president of the EPP, and is dated 5 March, even when it was made public on social media the next day. On condition that Les Républicains maintain solely seven seats within the 177-member group, the tough indictment is just not anticipated to derail von der Leyen’s electoral prospects.
The textual content, nevertheless, serves to show the social gathering’s ideological divide brought on by 5 years of transformational insurance policies, which have left the most important formation within the European Parliament striving to uphold its conservative roots whereas advancing von der Leyen’s imaginative and prescient.
Chatting with Euronews forward of the congress, Thanasis Bakolas, the EPP’s secretary common, threw his assist behind the incumbent.
“We now have one candidate for this place. It’s the sitting president of the European Fee Ursula von der Leyen, an individual with a (monitor) file, an individual whose dedication to Europe is unquestionable,” Bakolas mentioned.
“We’re very a lot wanting ahead for Ms von der Leyen to be our lead candidate for the European elections. And naturally, we look ahead to her second time period in workplace.”
Requested in regards to the farmer protests and the strain placed on the EPP to maneuver away from the Inexperienced Deal, Bakolas mentioned the social gathering was open to taking their calls for into consideration.
“We bought a number of warmth and a number of pushback after we listened to farmers after they have been asking society as a complete and us, because the EPP, to take heed to their wants as a result of farmers are the custodians of the land,” he mentioned. “They care in regards to the land.”