Ursula von der Leyen has promised the EU would do much more in areas such as housing and defence if she is given a second term as European Commission president.
In a speech before a crucial confirmation vote in the European Parliament, Ms von der Leyen said she would not stand by and let the EU be “torn apart” by political demagogues and extremists.
The commission president said her first priority if given a second term in the powerful role would be making the EU more economically competitive.
Ms von der Leyen needs at least 361 of the 720 MEPs to vote in favour of her leading the commission for another five years. She has a lot of momentum heading into the vote, with many MEPs, EU officials and other observers expecting her to win the necessary amount of votes required.
Brussels is gripped by one question: does Ursula von der Leyen have the votes?
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The governing majority in the European Parliament of the centre right European People’s Party (EPP), centrists Renew and the centre left Socialists & Democrats (S&D) command about 400 votes together.
[ Europe Letter: Nervous wait for von der Leyen as crucial vote loomsOpens in new window ]
Fears that some in that number, such as the four Fianna Fáil MEPs who sit in the Renew group, will rebel and vote against the commission president has meant the German politician has spent weeks trying to shore up votes from elsewhere.
The speech on Thursday morning was a balancing act that sought to keep a number of different political factions happy and win their support, from the left-wing Greens grouping to some more hard-right parties on the other side of the parliament. Voting is expected to begin around noon Irish time, with the results expected two hours later.
There needed to be an “immediate and enduring” ceasefire in Israel’s war in Gaza, Ms von der Leyen said. “Too many children, women and civilians have lost their lives as a result of Israel’s response to Hamas’ brutal terror. The people of Gaza cannot bear any more. Humanity cannot bear it,” she told MEPs. The commission president was previously politically damaged by comments she made in the days after the October 7th attacks by Hamas, which were seen as lending unconditional support to Israel.
Ms von der Leyen rounded on right-wing Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban in the speech, criticising his recent trip to Moscow to discuss peace in Ukraine with Russian president Vladimir Putin as an “appeasement mission”. The EU would stand with Ukraine in its war with Russia “for a long as it takes,” she said.
The speech also had a large focus on law and order, promising to double the number of staff in Europol, the EU police co-operation agency, and triple coast guard staff in Frontex, the agency which guards the union’s borders.
In what was likely a bid to win the support of hard-right Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party, Ms von der Leyen said she would create a commissioner for the Mediterranean region, the main crossing point of migrants into Europe.
In a document setting out her agenda, Ms von der Leyen pledged to “stay the course” when it came to ambitious climate “green deal” reforms from the last five years. If confirmed she said she would introduce a further “clean industrial deal” within 100 days that the document said would “decarbonise and industrialise” the EU economy.
In a contribution afterwards by Terry Reintke, co-leader of the Greens, appeared to indicate her group would back the commission president. Ms Reintke, a German MEP, said the Greens had negotiated and “made compromises” in recent weeks. While the policy platform put forward was not a “green programme”, the pro-EU majority in parliament was needed to keep the far right from power, she said.
The document setting out Ms von der Leyen’s vision stated the commission president would build a “European defence union” if given a second term. The centre-right politician said individual EU countries would “always retain responsibility” for the deployment of troops, but she would create a new commissioner post focused on defence.
The next commission should examine how member states could “pool” resources to fund several big projects, such as a European air defence shield, Ms von der Leyen said.
If re-elected Ms von der Leyen said one of the new EU commissioners would be given responsibility to come up with a “European affordable housing plan”, indicating the union would try to take a bigger role tackling the housing crisis.
“Typically, housing is not seen as a European issue. Some might say we should not get involved. But I want this commission to support people where it matters the most,” she said in her speech.
The document said the EU needed to do more to “counter irregular migration”, which would include striking more deals with countries outside Europe to provide funding in exchange for help curbing the number of arrivals.
The next commission would do more to help EU countries push back against foreign interference and disinformation pushed by Russian and Chinese backed actors.
Late last month the commission president received the backing of a majority of the 27 national leaders for a second term in leading the executive arm of the EU, teeing up the vote in parliament.
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