“I am pleased that these appointments were made quickly, unlike last time.”in 2019. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz did not hide his relief, on the night of Thursday 27 to Friday 28 June in Brussels, a little after midnight, after the agreement at the European Council.
The Twenty-Seven have agreed to give German Ursula von der Leyen, a member of the European People’s Party (EPP), a second term as head of the European Commission. Portuguese socialist António Costa inherits the presidency of the European Council, and Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas will take over as head of diplomacy. But for Ursula von der Leyen, victory is not a given: she will have to convince the European Parliament.
But the exercise is difficult and Ursula von der Leyen is aware of it. In 2019, she obtained the confidence of Parliament with only nine votes in advance. This time, she will have to collect 361 votes out of 720 to keep her seat. The vote should be organized in mid-July, probably on Wednesday July 17, in Strasbourg, during the constitutive session of the European Parliament. Until then, Ursula von der Leyen knows what she has to do: convince.
Go get votes “one by one”
“For me, the challenge will be to persuade a large majority of the need for a strong Europe, and that is what I will be working on during, let’s see, the next three weeks.”she explained during a press conference at the end of the European Council, before releasing a discreet “And we’ll see…”.
His plan ? Being invited by the different political groups in the European Parliament to present your ideas and priorities, but also approaching MEPs delegation by delegation. Indeed, within the same group, according to national instructions, not all elected officials vote as one man. Ursula von der Leyen plans to speak with each of them, ” one by one “. “I know many of them, they are very familiar to me – well, except the new ones, of course.”boasted the outgoing president.
In his entourage, we nevertheless fear unpleasant surprises, particularly because the human and the affect play an important role in this kind of vote for or against a personality. All the more so since the vote is organized by secret ballot. Everyone can therefore express themselves in their soul and conscience, without risking having to justify themselves afterwards.
A helping hand to the far right?
Ursula von der Leyen will in principle be able to count on the votes of the groups that have formed a majority coalition: the Christian Democrats, the Socialists and the Liberals, but certainly not 100% of them. A few Green elected officials could be seduced, at least she hopes so. But a gigantic question mark has been agitating Brussels for months: will Ursula von der Leyen seek to make a pact with the far-right group of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR), the one to which the Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni belongs, who abstained at the time of the vote in the European Council?
The answer is rather yes, because every vote will count. Asked about this, the official repeated the answer she had already given during the European campaign: she will work with all those who are “pro-Europe, pro-Ukraine and pro-rule of law”. But we still don’t know what she means by that.
