The European Parliament's Conference of Presidents of Political Groups (CoP) finally decided on Thursday 11 July that MEPs will vote on the candidacy of Ursula von der Leyen to head the next European Commission on Tuesday 16 July at 6:00 pm in Strasbourg.
The German Christian Democrat's political statement in plenary session will take place on Tuesday 16 July at 9:00 am and will be followed by a debate with MEPs until 12:30 pm.
On Thursday at the CoP, "The only group expressing support to the candidate was the EPP. Only Greens/EFA and GUE/NGL announced their negative vote. S&D, Renew Europe, Identity and Democracy and ECR are waiting for further clarifications and guarantees from the candidate and will take the final decision next week", according to a report of the meeting seen by EUROPE.
The key to the vote lies in the position of the S&D Group. The German Social Democrats and the French Socialists should vote against it. The attitude of the Spanish and Italian Socialists, the two largest delegations in the group, with 20 and 19 elected respectively, will be decisive. This is why the Spanish socialist Josep Borrell i Fontelles has inherited the post of High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and the Italian socialist David Maria Sassoli from that of President of Parliament.
A more social tone
After meeting the Sovereignist Group (ECR) on Tuesday evening and the Social Democratic (S&D), Liberal (Renew Europe) and Ecologist (Greens/EFA) groups on Wednesday (see EUROPE 12293/2), Mrs von der Leyen held a debate with the GUE/NGL group on Thursday, responding positively to the request of the elected representatives of the radical left.
With 41 members, this group has already indicated that it will reject the candidature of the German Christian Democrat. But, as Greek Dimitrios Papadimoulis pointed out, in politics, "dialogue is important, especially when opinions differ".
And positions are sometimes very far apart, MEPs recalled in the public debate, with some referring to the austerity and militarisation policies that the European Union would promote with the consent of Christian Democrats.
The nominated candidate tried from the outset to bring the MEPs closer together by highlighting the results of the policy she pursued when she was Minister for Family Affairs in the first 'Merkel' government (see EUROPE 12288/5).
Reconciling private and professional life is "a subject that has always concerned me", said this mother of seven children. She recalled that she had introduced parental income for fathers and/or mothers in her country and stimulated investment in infrastructure to facilitate childcare.
Mrs von der Leyen mainly considered that "it is time to talk about minimum wages in all Member States", in order to ensure that any work must allow a decent life. According to her, the social partners are in the best position to negotiate per country, region or industry a measure that was introduced in Germany in 2015. But legislation is possible if employers and trade unions fail to do so, she added. And to consider it necessary to find "new models of unemployment insurance" in the EU.
On the migration challenge, the nominated candidate said she was "dismayed" by the political stalemate paralysing the activities of the EUNAVFOR Med Sophia maritime operation to combat migrant smugglers, which had been extended until the end of September, but had lost its naval resources (see EUROPE 12225/25).
After a series of drownings, I asked German Chancellor Angela Merkel to send the German Navy, which has saved a total of "22,000" human lives, said Mrs von der Leyen. As for the reform of the European asylum system, which is also at an impasse, it hoped to achieve a "fairer text", which does not abandon the countries bordering the Mediterranean to their fate and which makes it possible to fight against trafficking in human beings. The day before, before the Liberals, she had insisted on the need to strengthen the resources of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (ex-Frontex) as soon as possible, which should be staffed by 10,000 officers "well before 2027".
On climate action, Mrs von der Leyen once again advocated 2050 to achieve climate neutrality in the EU by raising the target for reducing CO2 emissions to 50% by 2030. But it is essential that the transition to a low-carbon economy be "fair".
When asked several times about the fight against tax avoidance, the nominated candidate took the example of the digital giants. It is normal for GAFA to make billions of euros in profits in the EU, but these groups must pay taxes where they make their profits in order to contribute to the social market economy, she said.
Finally, the German Christian Democrat welcomed the definition of binding rules on transparency in relations between the Commission and Parliament on the one hand and between lobbies on the other.
In the end, there will only be with the far-right group Identity and Democracy that Mrs von der Leyen did not discuss. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)