Ursula von der Leyen, the candidate to head the list of the European People’s Party (EPP), intends to run a more personalised election campaign to help people understand who she really is and what values she stands for in the run-up to the vote at the beginning of June.
But it is not clear at this stage how far Mrs von der Leyen is prepared to reveal part of her private life, as the EPP does not wish to fall into the trap of an ‘US-style’ election campaign.
The German Christian Democrat, who will continue to preside over the European Commission at the same time, will outline three pan-European themes – prosperity, security and democracy – that she and her political family agreed on at the Bucharest Congress (see EUROPE 13365/10).
“That’s what people are worried about in these difficult times. This is what the EPP will be defending in the elections”, reads one of the campaign posters unveiled by the EPP on Friday 26 April. And, for Ms von der Leyen, Europe can only succeed if it remains united, stressed Alexander Winterstein, chief spokesman for the European Christian Democrats’ campaign.
During her travels, which she hopes will be as numerous as possible despite the tight deadlines, Ms von der Leyen will highlight one of these themes, adapting it to the specific nature of the country in which she will be campaigning. She will travel to Maastricht on Monday 29 April, in particular to take part in the ‘Spitzenkandidaten’ debate, then to Prague on Tuesday 30 April, to Katowice on Tuesday 7 May and to Italy on Monday 13 May.
Mr Winterstein said that Ms von der Leyen had set herself the goal of convincing Europeans to take part in the vote in order to block out the extreme parties, which are capable of mobilising people. After the European elections, Ms von der Leyen will also have to build a stable coalition for the next mandate, if the European Council reappoints her as President of the European Commission. Asked about the possibility of cooperating with eurosceptics, the German leader has already set her own red lines: the EPP will only work with political forces that are pro-Europe, pro-Ukraine and pro-the Rule of law (see EUROPE 13366/1).
The campaign team will be active across all media and formats, with the exception of the Chinese social network Tik Tok. This is linked to “security issues”, said Mr Winterstein.
To see the campaign: https://aeur.eu/f/bzm (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)