© Reuters. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen attends the College of European Commissioners’ meeting in Brussels, Belgium March 5, 2024. REUTERS/Yves Herman/File Photo
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By Luiza Ilie and Gabriela Baczynska
BUCHAREST/BRUSSELS (Reuters) -European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Thursday won the backing of the EU’s leading political group, the centre-right European People’s Party, to head the bloc’s powerful executive for another five years.
The only candidate in the party’s ballot, von der Leyen listed the war in Ukraine, the crisis in Gaza destabilising the Middle East, and the rise of China as key challenges for the 27-nation European Union, a wealthy grouping of 450 million people.
“And here at home, (Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s friends are trying to rewrite our history and hijack our future. They are spreading hate from behind their keyboards,” she told a party caucus in Bucharest.
“Our peaceful and united Europe is being challenged like never before by populists, by nationalists, by demagogues.”
Von der Leyen won with 400 votes in favour and 89 against, an EPP official said, as U2 song “Beautiful Day” blasted from the speakers.
The backing comes ahead of an EU-wide parliamentary election in June that will lead to the appointment of a new slate of top EU officials – including the head of the Brussels-based Commission.
Currently seen as a clear favourite to lead the Commission again, von der Leyen would begin a new term as Europe looks to strengthen its security and defence while Russia wages war on its borders and Donald Trump eyes a return to the White House.
If approved by leaders of the EU’s 27 member countries, she will have another term charting the bloc’s policies on everything from big tech and state aid to Chinese investment screening and sanctions against Russia.
She vowed to advance EU economies, clamp down on smugglers driving irregular immigration to the bloc, strengthen competitiveness and businesses, as well as supporting farmers as costs of living rise.
Von der Leyen also promised more financial and military aid to Ukraine, which has been fighting against Russian invasion for more than two years.
“Prosperity, security, democracy – this is what people care about in these difficult times,” she said. “In times of change, Europe has your back.”
VON DER LEYEN
Born in Belgium where her father worked at the same European Commission she now leads, von der Leyen is a physician and a mother of seven. A former German defence minister, she steered the EU through the COVID-19 pandemic, Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine and an energy crunch.
The first woman ever to hold the influential job, she saw Britain leave the EU, put into law more ambitious climate goals, and oversaw massive new spending on energy, health and post-pandemic economic recovery.
However, she has faced criticism from some after she watered down parts of her “Green Deal” package of environment policies this year in response to protests by farmers.
Michael Bloss, a Green lawmaker in the EU Parliament, said he thought von der Leyen was “not at all any more the champion” of her own Green Deal policies.
“The EPP basically want to destroy her ‘man on the moon’ project, and she now has to kind of pretend that this is still the Green Deal,” Bloss told Reuters.
Known for honing decisions among a tiny group of her closest aides, von der Leyen drew criticism for visiting Israel after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack without clearly demanding that the country respects international humanitarian law in its response.
Despite a rise in far-right and populist parties in the bloc, the EPP has kept a clear lead among other political groups ahead of the June vote, according to opinion polls.
Still, securing the necessary majority in the new European Parliament, where eurosceptics are set to win more seats, might be the biggest hurdle for von der Leyen to clear, possibly forcing her into policy trade-offs to win the votes needed.
