Von der Leyen: “I am convinced that I have the support of many leaders, they know me”

Oporto (Portugal) – The candidate for the European People’s Party for the presidency of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, was “convinced” this Friday that she has the support of “many” heads of State and Government to repeat in office after the European elections, when the high positions of the community institutions will be renewed.

“I am convinced that I have the support of many leaders. They know me and know my experience,” said Von der Leyen to a group of journalists who traveled with her to one of the last stops of her electoral campaign in Oporto (Portugal), among them EFE.

The candidate and current president of the community Executive pointed out that “the first brick to build a broad coalition for a strong Europe” is the unity of her own party, the European People’s Party.

In that sense, she assured that the members of her political family are on the same page in the European Council, where there are a dozen popular heads of State and Government, and in the European Parliament, where they are expected to remain as the first force after the European elections that are celebrated from this Thursday to Sunday throughout the EU.

If Von der Leyen gets the European Council’s nomination to remain as president of the European Commission, she will also have to certify the support of at least 361 of the 720 Members of the European Parliament, a complex task given that the parties that support her apart from the EPP – Social Democrats and Liberals – will have fewer seats and the far-right and extreme right will gain more, according to surveys.

The European People’s Party wants its traditional partners to be the starting point for negotiations, as the sum of popular, social democrats, and liberals would still be above 50% of the hemicycle. The vote, however, is secret, a perfect breeding ground for rebel deputies and openly discontented delegations with her, such as the French populars.

To try to settle a more comfortable majority, Von der Leyen has two options: to reach out to the Greens/Free European Alliance, who will lose many seats but would still have enough to tip the vote, or to some delegations that she considers “acceptable” within the ultraconservatives, such as the Brothers of Italy of the Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni.

With this last risky move, however, she risks losing the support of Social Democrats and Liberals, who deem approaches to the extreme right as unacceptable.

Asked if she would be willing to talk to the Greens to settle that majority that supports her, Von der Leyen insisted that she will work “from the center” and that she is open to sitting down to work with all MEPs who are pro-European, in favor of Ukraine against Russia’s aggression, and defend the rule of law.

“The extremists of the far-left and far-right are trying to divide us and we won’t let it happen. The center must prevail,” said the German, who, during the campaign, has considered that Meloni meets the three cited conditions. (May 7)