Opposition grows in Germany for Ursula von der Leyen’s nomination for EU President
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Only one third of Germans believe their defense minister, Ursula von der Leyen, is a good choice to lead the EU Commission, according to a Deutschlandtrend survey, organized by Germany’s public broadcaster ARD.
Ursula von der Leyen is on track to succeed Jean-Claude Juncker as the head of the European Commission, but her compatriots are less than thrilled by the prospect, according to a survey published.
The prospect of a German filling the commission presidency for the first time in 52 years has been met with outcries across the political spectrum in Germany.
The former leader of the Social Democrats (SPD) Martin Schulz described Von der Leyen as “the government’s weakest minister”, while his SPD colleague Sigmar Gabriel, a former vice-chancellor, called her nomination “an unprecedented act of political trickery”.
The Greens bemoaned Von der Leyen’s nomination as an “old-school backroom deal”, the pro-business Free Democrats said she was “not the best candidate”, the far-right Alternative für Deutschland said her selection would amount to “cheating voters” and even Manfred Weber, the candidate that Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union had originally fielded for the top commission post, lamented a “sad day for European democracy”.
On the other hand the French president, Emmanuel Macron, has praised the 60-year-old for having “the DNA of the European community”, while the conservative Polish newspaper Gazeta Polska has hailed her nomination as a “historic choice”. However, in Germany the prospect of a German filling the commission presidency for the first time in 52 years has been met with outcries across the political spectrum.
Her chances of securing the post as Commission chief received a boost in Strasbourg on Wednesday, when the European Parliament voted for Italian socialist David Sassoli, a former TV news journalist and a MEP since 2009, to become its president.
Their support suggested that EU leaders were correct in counting on MEPs to back the package of names put together after a marathon 27 hours of summit negotiations over three days.
The parliament is expected to vote on von der Leyen’s candidacy on or around July 15.
