After an intense round of negotiations with parliamentary groups from across the political spectrum, conservative German politician Ursula von der Leyen secured a second term as president of the European Commission. She won the secret ballot of the newly elected European Parliament with 401 votes in favor, comfortably above the required majority of 360. Other presidents have served two terms before her, but she is the first to be chosen twice by the parliament, which, since 2014 , elects, and does not simply approve, the maximum leader of the European Union.
The centrist coalition that launched its candidacy – the center-right European People’s Party (EPP), the center-left Socialists and Democrats (S&D) and the centrist liberals of Renew – managed to advance with the support of the Greens, which, together with Renew suffered significant losses in the June European Parliament elections.
A central issue of debate within the coalition has been isolating or incorporating far-right parties, which have made major gains. Together, they have just one less deputy than the PPE, currently the largest group in parliament. The “cordon sanitaire” against the extreme right has now been restricted to just two of the three extreme right groups: Patriots of Europe, where the National Rally of France, Fidesz of Hungary and the League of Italy with their eurosceptic positions and pro sympathies -Vladimir Putin are likely. to give more than a headache to the new commission, and to Europe of Sovereign Nations, a set of ultranationalist parties led by Alternative for Germany extremists. Both groups voted against von der Leyen.
Without a clear mandate from S&D, Renew and the Greens, but with the support of the EPP, von der Leyen maintained an open dialogue with the third far-right group in parliament, the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR), in an effort to obtain the votes of the Brothers of Italy, the party of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and the most prominent political formation of the ECR. In the end, the ECR said members would vote in accordance with their “national interests”. Meloni’s party voted against the German technocrat, but managed to elect a parliamentary vice-president, along with another Latvian MEP from the ECR.
Von der Leyen programmatic speech to parliament on Thursday shows that European technocracy’s shift to the right is deeper than the negotiation of contingent power.
The re-elected president of the European Commission has perfected an effective rhetorical style that, using right-wing keywords such as “culture” and “values”, elevates Europe to an imaginary object to be valued and desired – what she summarizes as “our way European way of life”. Europe is “our homeland” with a symbolic role similar to that of the “nation” in the far-right discourse.
Von der Leyen’s Europe faces several threats that require protective and decisive measures. The Green Deal – probably his most important bipartisan legacy – is recast in the language of economic prosperity and competitiveness, echoing the kind of economic nationalism that former President Donald Trump embedded in the United States. The focus is on creating wealth and prosperity for European businesses, farmers and workers, without any meaningful talk about alliances with other global players – least of all the countries of the Global South, which hold most of the essential raw materials needed for green transition. Driven by the EPP, this is a conservative response to the huge wave of green skepticism that hit the polls in June – attacking European green policies is the far right’s new “culture war”.
Von der Leyen stated that Europe needs protection against external security threats – not only against war through the legitimate and widely agreed objective of a common European defense system, but also against migrants and refugees. Endorsing the European anti-immigration consensus on the streets, she promised to expand the heavily criticized European border agency, Frontex. This is likely to produce even more death, suffering and human rights violations for those trying to cross borders into Europe while fleeing war, natural disasters and poverty.
Echoing Meloni Mattei Plan for Africa, von der Leyen cynically announced a new commissioner for the Mediterranean region, whose role will be to oversee strategic partnerships with non-European countries linked to the interruption of migration flows. The plan is the infamous deal signed with Tunisia last year – marked by two joint visits to Tunis by von der Leyen, Meloni and then-Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and pledging more than a billion dollars to help Tunisia leave. of its unprecedented economic crisis in exchange for preventing departures from Tunisian shores to Europe.
The protection of democracy – another key theme in the German politician’s narrative – was also closely framed within the need to combat hostile external forces. She proposed a European Democracy Shield to deal with foreign information manipulation and interference. These concerns are real and need to be addressed, but there is certainly more to preserving and reinvigorating democracy.
As a consensus leader – a necessity dictated by the structure of the European Union – von der Leyen rightly highlighted the importance of social rights and social dialogue. She presented a housing plan that addresses the dire situation of millions of European workers who struggle to find decent and affordable housing, especially in cities. However, her speech left the feeling that her signaling to her progressive allies was a mere footnote to her central vision.
Ultimately, von der Leyen advocates an inward-looking Europe that prioritizes its own wealth and privileges over global cooperation and social justice, while intensifying scaremongering, hatred and violence against migrants and refugees. The results of the June elections suggest that the president of the European Commission may be interpreting the feelings of large sectors of the European population. While progressive forces engage her on issues of inequality, welfare and the environment, opposition to her anti-immigration policies remains muted. Europeans who believe that humanity and solidarity are non-negotiable fundamental principles for Europe’s future will find it difficult to fight against the current.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of Al Jazeera.
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