Members of the European Parliament expressed their anger at the EU leaders for their handling of nominations for the bloc’s top jobs as the battle to confirm Ursula von der Leyen as the next Commission president heated up.
The vote on Wednesday that elected David-Maria Sassoli as president of the European Parliament indicated that von der Leyen could be short of the absolute majority needed for ratification.
POLITICO reports that it is far from clear if MEPs — despite many of them being furious at the European Council for killing the Spitzenkandidat or “lead candidate” process — will reject von der Leyen, the German defense minister who is a close ally of Chancellor Angela Merkel.
The report adds that in the plenary debate in Strasbourg, leading MEPs reacted angrily to the leadership package put forward by the European Council after 48 hours of marathon negotiations earlier this week.
“They criticized not only the surprise nomination of von der Leyen, and the rejection of the three lead candidates put forward by the EU’s biggest political families, but also the choice of Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel for Council president, IMF chief Christine Lagarde as head of the European Central Bank and Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Borrell to be high representative for foreign affairs.”
Earlier today the surprise nominee picked to lead the EU’s executive arm, German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen, has met with outgoing Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker in Brussels.
A Commission spokesperson on Thursday said Juncker fully backs his potential successor, adding that the two met as “true Europeans who have known each other for years”.
Donald Tusk, the outgoing chief of the EU Council consisting of the EU28 leaders who nominated von der Leyen, joined the campaign trail in Strasbourg on Thursday, urging the Parliament to approve the German defence minister.
“For the first time, we achieved perfect gender balance in the top positions. Europe is not only talking about women, it is choosing women,” Tusk told EU lawmakers while taking to the assembly floor.
“I hope it will inspire the European Parliament in its decisions.”
But not many lawmakers were buying it the charm offensive.
Tusk’s speech was met with resistance from many EU lawmakers blasting von der Leyen’s nomination as undemocratic and serving the political needs of the heads of states who nominated the close ally of Angela Merkel.
“With all due respect President Tusk, I cannot support how things were done and the lack of respect you’ve shown to other institutions,” said European People’s Party group Vice-Chair González Pons.
“The future of Europe can no longer be decided behind closed doors and through secret plots.”
“The Council has the right to propose a candidate to lead the Commission through the Parliament. However, what the Council doesn’t have the right to do is to ignore who have been voted for by European citizens,” he said.
“We believed before in the Spitzenkandidaten process and we still believe in it. And let me tell you, in five years we will still believe in it. Because we prefer ballots rather than closed-door deals.”
Pons said in a statement, however, he will vote for von der Leyen but only out of a sense of responsibility to the party, which is the same group the German defence minister belongs to.
The chair of the centre-left Socialists and Democrats, Iratxe García Pérez, said EU leaders can’t “come here and just lay out the Council position and say that we have to vote for it”.
She added that the group’s lead candidate, Frans Timmermans, should have been nominated as Commission president.
The European Council, which is made up of all EU28 leaders, nominated von der Leyen on the third straight day of gruelling talks earlier this week. She is set to be joined by fellow nominees Charles Michel as European Council president, Josep Borrell Fontelles as EU foreign policy chief, and Christine Lagarde to lead the European Central Bank.
MEPs are set to vote on von der Leyen’s nomination in the week of July 15.
