N. Peter Kramer’s Weekly Column
Von der Leyen’s re-election as President of the European Commission is not a race that already has been run. Of course she is the one and only candidate of the European Council, but the ball is now in the court of the European Parliament. Theoretically, the pro-EU coalition of christian-democrats (EPP), socialists (S&D) and liberals (Renew) could get her elected with their 400 of the 720 seats in the parliament, but due to the secret ballot the expectation is that there is a potential loss of votes in all three political groups, even in VDL’s own EPP, that could bring a majority in danger.
So she was and still is looking for the support of a fourth group in the EP. Before the EP elections of last month, VDL with support of EPP leader Manfred Weber, made seriously eyes at the hard-right ECR of Giorgia Meloni, but since the socialists made clear that they will not support VDL if she wants to cooperate with the hard-right, she changed easily her mind and turned to the Greens, eyeing to their 53 seats, to safeguard ‘her’ majority in the EP.
But there is a problem. Before the EU elections, the EPP wanted a ‘more pragmatic’ approach to green policies, President Von der Leyen followed her group and took a step back on the Green Deal. On the other side, the Greens insist on continuing the Green Deal. The Greens also don’t trust the christian-democrats citing fears that the EPP could opt to cooperate with the ECR once von der Leyen is elected.
It is clear, the EPP is split on the case.
