Germany’s Scholz warns von der Leyen: No collaboration with the far-right 

The new European Commission president must not collaborate with far-right forces, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz warned on Friday (24 May), amid signs that the current Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen is eyeing closer collaboration with hard-right parties if she wins a second mandate. 

Von der Leyen (CDU), who is the lead candidate of the centre-right European People’s Party, reaffirmed during Thursday’s EU election debate that her group is open to collaborating with Italy’s hard-right Fratelli d’Italia in the European Parliament. 

Although she stressed that potential partners must be “pro-European, pro-Ukraine, and pro-rule-of-law”, European Socialists and Democrats have warned that such a collaboration would erode democratic norms. 

Scholz, Germany’s social democratic chancellor, weighed in after meeting with Portugal’s conservative Prime Minister Luis Montenegro on Friday.

“It is clear to me that when the next Commission is formed, it must not be based on a majority that also needs the support of right-wing extremists,” he told journalists when asked about the matter. 

The election of the new Commission leadership will only succeed if it is based on “established parties”, he added. “Anything else would be a mistake for Europe’s future.”

Scholz also said he was shocked at the “ambiguity of some of the political statements we have heard recently”, without elaborating. 

It is not the first time that Scholz has spoken up against an imminent far-right shift expected in June’s EU elections, as his party appears to have identified fears of such a shift as a way to mobilise supporters during the campaign. 

However, Friday’s comments mark the most direct warning yet to the EPP and their lead candidate not to cross the line. 

This is an important signal for von der Leyen, whose group is the frontrunner in the polls, as she needs to be nominated by the EU’s leaders to secure a second mandate.  

Key actors such as Germany and France are headed by leaders from opposing political families, the centrist liberals in France and a coalition of social democrats, liberals and Greens in Germany. 

Von der Leyen will also need to be endorsed by the European Parliament, where she might need the votes from at least some in the hard-right ECR group to succeed.

Despite Scholz’s comments, Germany’s coalition government has, in principle, committed to respecting the Spitzenkandidaten system, which asserts that EU leaders have to nominate the lead candidate affiliated with the largest group in parliament. 

However, France has raised question marks recently, as rumours surfaced that President Emmanuel Macron wants to lift Italy’s former prime minister Mario Draghi to the top job. 

[Edited by Zoran Radosavljevic]

Read more with Euractiv