Ursula von der Leyen is running for re-election as President of the EU Commission. She has a good chance, especially since a boycott campaign against Hungarian Prime Minister Orban could bring her additional votes.
End of the war: EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
This week it will be decided who will hold the most important jobs in the EU in the coming years. On Tuesday, the newly formed EU Parliament confirmed Parliamentary Speaker Roberta Metsola in office. The 45-year-old politician from the European People’s Party (EPP) received 562 out of 699 votes. The re-election of the politician from Malta was expected;
The election for the Presidium of the Commission on Thursday will be more exciting. The incumbent Ursula von der Leyen, who also belongs to the EPP, has a very good chance. She needs 361 of 720 votes. She is supported by her own party, the Social Democrats and the Liberals (Renew), who together have 401 seats. Mathematically, it should be enough for von der Leyen. However, there are always dissenters, especially since the election is secret.
Von der Leyen looks at the Greens
It is said in Brussels that about ten percent of parliamentarians often do not vote as party strategists intended. If this assessment is correct this time too, he will be close to von der Leyen. She may also need votes from the Greens or the EKR faction of conservative national opinion polls, part of the right wing.
At least with the Greens, von der Leyen may have scored points with her latest move. On Monday evening it emerged that she and the EU commissioners did not want to take part in any informal EU ministerial meetings, but would be represented by senior officials.
The ministerial meetings are currently being organized by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his colleagues in the Cabinet. Orban currently holds the EU presidency, so he heads the body of heads of state and government.
The Hungarian is a perceived troublemaker in the council. But especially with his latest “peace mission”, he has gone overboard with the Commission, most of the heads of government and many parliamentarians. As soon as Orban took the presidency at the beginning of July, he traveled to Kiev, Moscow and Beijing. In talks with heads of state Volodymyr Zelensky, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, he wanted to explore how a ceasefire could be achieved between Ukraine and Russia.
With this uncoordinated action, Orban damaged the unity of the EU, said a spokesperson from the Commission on Tuesday. By boycotting the informal ministerial meetings, the commissioners would send the signal that they were not happy with Orban’s actions.
But the EU spokesman also admitted that it was a symbolic gesture. Normally, no decisions are made at the informal ministerial meetings; The Commissioners will continue to participate in the formal meetings that will take place in Brussels.
Some member states are already using a similar strategy. Last week, for example, an informal meeting of industry ministers was held in Budapest. Only seven ministers took part.
Orban warns of escalation in Ukraine
Orban has a very bitter opponent in the EU Parliament. “We have a problem with it,” says an EPP MP. According to his assessment, Orban will only be able to have a small influence on the legislation. “There is not much on the agenda at ministerial level in the second half of the year,” says the parliamentarian. The new commission will not start work until November anyway.
Meanwhile, Orban continues to whirr. On Monday he allegedly sent a letter to the current President of the Council Charles Michel and to the heads of government. In it, Orban writes that the war in Ukraine will escalate in the near future. The politician therefore proposes to return to diplomatic communication with Russia. A spokesman for the Commission said on Tuesday that Orban’s letter had not been received.