EU BYTES
It has been a different story for the new liberal political family in the Parliament, “Renew Europe”, which gathered former (liberal) ALDE members and the new French “Macronist” MEPs. Strong of their 108 seats in the EU chamber, the liberals were ready to play an important role in the EU parliament balance of powers, hoping to exert more concession from the EU Commission presidency candidate. The 73 Green/EFA MEPs, initially vocal about their disappointment at the EU Council outcome, quickly understood that they had a role to play in what was yet to come.
Ursula’s charm offensive
Even if suddenly projected on the top EU playing field, von der Leyen managed to control the situation. On one side, she dodged insidious questions on her tenure as defence minister, which currently sees her involved in an official investigation of the German Parliament on misspending and mismanagement of procurement contracts. On the other, being aware of the parliamentary turbulence in Strasbourg, she orchestrated her charm offensive to consolidate MEPs’ backing for her nomination through an intense round of meetings with the main political families (far-right “Identity and Democracy” excluded). Disappointed by the failure of the Spitzenkandidat process, most MEPs faced the candidate with a heavy load of requests, pushing von der Leyen into making far-reaching promises. Promises which were further developed in her speech ahead of the vote in plenary: real action on climate change, EU Commission gender balance, a minimum wage in all EU member states, etc. A clear wink to the progressive side of the EU House, while taking for granted EPP’s allegiance. Long story short, von der Leyen got 383 votes, just nine votes
over the required threshold, and way less than Juncker’s 422. Not an easy margin to begin her mandate, especially considering the important role played by English MEPs in her election: if the new Tory leader Boris Johnson keeps his word on delivering Brexit, they will leave their post on the day before she takes the office. Her election also risked yet another crisis in Italy’s unstable governing coalition, where 5Star MEPs likely voted in favour and Lega’s members voted against her nomination, publicly defying the Italian PM support to her candidacy in the EU Council meeting.
Expectations Vs Reality
And what about the promises she made? Somehow unsurprisingly, the president-elect has already toned down some of her past statements on EU rule of law and migration policy coordination, offering a more conciliatory approach to Central
and Eastern European countries; after all, European Conservative and Reformists’ votes did contribute to her victory. On gender parity of the next Commission team the road looks uphill: it will be up to von der Leyen to stand up against the current male-dominated nominations for the next commissioners from member states. Will she able to say “no, thank you”? At the same time, liberal and Green MEPs are expecting von
der Leyen to keep her word on climate action and rule of law. The S&D leadership is hoping to see concrete commitments on economic flexibility, social rights and migration; especially after having decided to support her candidacy despite the opposition of several national S&D contingents. And, the EPP is starting to get tired of seeing its political support always taken for granted. Luckily, there is at least one common thread that connects this landscape of diverging forces: excluding the far-right Identity and Democracy (ID) group from the main political games. Von der Leyen did so during the pre-vote consultations with the parliament groups; so did the successful concerted efforts of all political families to prevent ID to win an EP vice-presidency or a committee chairmanship (“cordon sanitaire”). This, and the satisfaction of many in seeing Martin Selmayr, the powerful Commission secretary-general, leaving his post: not enough space for two Germans at the top of the EU Commission. The reality of the Spitzenkandidat failure however has left its
mark, especially when we take a look at these hectic political weeks from an outsider’s perspective. The unilateral decision- making process of the EU Council did not contribute to an already opaque image of the functioning of the EU political and institutional frameworks. Secretive negotiations and the push of name completely out of the EU elections radar until that very moment, has questioned the ideal show of European democracy. Let’s hope that Jean-Claude Juncker might not turn out to be the first and last Spitzenkandidat who made it to the top EU job, ironically with von der Leyen’s explicit commitment to “improve” the Lead-Candidate system. In five years we will know again.
Greetings from Brussels.
AUGUST 2019 31
MoiraM/Adobe Stock
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