Germany’s Scholz expects second term of von der Leyen

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz expects Ursula von der Leyen to be re-elected as President of the European Commission after emerging as a strong contender from the EU elections while reiterating his pre-conditions to nominate his fellow countrywoman.

After the EU elections concluded one week ago, the race for the top jobs in the European Union began, including the post of the president of the Commission. Now, it is up to the heads of state and government to decide on a common candidate, with current president Ursula von der Leyen appearing to be the favourite.

On Saturday, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz stated that “everything” looks like “there can be a second term of office for Ursula von der Leyen” in an interview on Welt TV.

A day prior, the G7 summit in Italy concluded, where France, Germany, and Italy had the opportunity to informally discuss their nomination for the first time after the elections.

With the provisional election results of 190 seats, von der Leyen’s European People’s Party came out top. However, the Parliament experienced a political shift, with significant gains to the right of the conservatives. She will now have to navigate a politically divided European Parliament and is confronted with concerns over alliances with far-right parties.

During the election campaign, the progressive forces to the left of von der Leyen repeatedly tried to corner her to rule out any cooperation with the far right. Any candidate needs to be confirmed by an absolute majority of the European Parliament to assume the role of president of the Commission.

While the EPP, together with the social democrats (SPD/S&D) and liberals of Renew Europe, could technically gather enough votes, not all lawmakers of these groups will necessarily vote for her.

So far, von der Leyen has not ruled out cooperating with parties to the right of the EPP, such as the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR). Instead, she made it a condition of cooperation to support Ukraine and the European rule of law and oppose Russia’s attempt to undermine the European Union.

On Saturday, Chancellor Scholz stressed on ARD once more that it would be a pre-requisite for his social democrats (SPD/S&D) to support the incumbent president that she must rely “on the traditional parties and not on very right-wing parties” following the G7 summit.

For him, an alliance with elements of the ECR, such as Giorgia Meloni’s Italian Fratelli d’Italia, should be ruled out.

Meloni did not go into detail about her support after meeting with Scholz and French President Emanuel Macron on the sidelines of the G7 meeting.

She stated that the EU should “understand the message that has come from European citizens” after the far-right made significant gains after the elections.

On Monday, all EU heads of state and government are meeting for the first time to discuss the EU’s top jobs, such as the Commission president, president of the European Council, Leader of the European Parliament and the EU’s foreign policy chief.

(Euractiv.de)

Read more with Euractiv