Debating the EU's next five years
27 May 2024
Last Thursday, the hemicycle of the European Parliament in Brussels transformed into a gigantic TV studio to host the ‘Eurovision debate’ featuring the candidates of five political groups.
Besides Ursula von der Leyen (European People’s Party), the stage featured Nicolas Schmit (candidate for the Party of European Socialists), Sandro Gozi (liberals of Renew Europe Now), Terry Reintke (European Greens) and Walter Baier (European Left). Candidates from the ID (Identity and Democracy Group) and the ECR (European Conservatives and Reformists) were notably absent.
Von der Leyen was repeatedly attacked for not opposing a possible alliance with the ECR. She said that she would only collaborate with "pro EU, pro Ukraine and pro rule of law" forces. This most likely excludes Rassemblement National and Alternative für Deutschland, but not Fratelli d'Italia.
The current Commission President also sees the EU climate targets as a priority. She said that "a dialogue with industry and farmers to find out what they need to meet by 2050" is needed. The Greens' candidate Reintke emphasised that any collaboration with the ECR would endanger that goal, and become an overall “disaster for the climate, a disaster for nature, for future generations, but also for the economy”.
On migration, von der Leyen highlighted the need to continue the fight against human traffickers and ensuring "legal pathways for safe and secure ways to come to the European Union", contradicting the recent highly problematic migration deals with Tunisia and Egypt. In Schmit's opinion, the Commission intends instead, to "fight the refugees who are pushed to the desert [by Tunisian authorities] and many of them die".
 | Lorenzo Di Stasi The debate promotes the so-called ‘Spitzenkandidaten system’, an informal procedure launched in 2014 which provides the EU's Commission President position to the candidate of the party which earns the largest share of the votes. In 2014, Jean-Claude Juncker (European People's Party) became Commission President. In 2019, the Spitzenkandidaten system already had its first major failure: Manfred Weber (also EPP) should have been appointed to the position, yet the European Council appointed Ursula von der Leyen instead. Von der Leyen had not even campaigned as a candidate for the position. |
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