As of: March 7, 2024, 10:39 a.m
By: Felix Durach
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The EU Commission President is to be appointed as the EPP's top candidate.
But in terms of content, von der Leyen and her party are drifting apart.
Bucharest – Ursula von der Leyen (CDU) is seeking a second term as President of the EU Commission.
The former defense minister wants to keep her post after the European elections between June 6th and 9th and continue to guide the political fortunes of the European Union.
On Thursday (March 7th), von der Leyen is to be named the top candidate for the upcoming election at the EPP party conference in Bucharest.
But the handwriting of the Commission President can hardly be seen in the election program of the European People's Parties.
Von der Leyen has suffered setbacks on several points.
Von der Leyen faces headwinds from within her own ranks – EPP abandons “Green Deal”
This is most evident with regard to the European “Green Deal” – von der Leyen's flagship project.
The CDU politician wants to make the EU climate neutral by 2050 and thus prepare for the future.
But green accents apparently do not meet the zeitgeist of conservative politicians, and not just in Germany.
The EPP is also once again distancing itself from the demands in its election program.
The program states that the Green Deal must not restrict the competitiveness of European companies or endanger agriculture.
The positioning was also evident in the EU Parliament in recent months, when EPP MPs voted against bills from the EU Commission.
Due to a lack of support, von der Leyen was forced to withdraw proposals for fewer pesticides.
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is to be named the EPP's top candidate on Thursday.
© DANIEL MIHAILESCU/AFP
EPP program for the European elections: von der Leyen should keep “control over migration”.
In the 23-page election program entitled “Our Europe, a safe and good home for the people”, the EPP is also taking a tougher approach to migration policy.
Europe must regain “control over migration,” the manifesto says, alluding to the more than one million asylum applications that were counted last year in the 27 EU countries, Norway and Switzerland.
The program also includes a passage on asylum procedures in “safe third countries”.
A demand that in Germany is made primarily from the ranks of the Union parties.
“Anyone who applies for asylum in the EU could also be transferred to a safe third country and undergo the asylum procedure there,” says the EPP’s election program, similar to the draft of the new CDU policy program.
“If the outcome is positive, the safe third country will grant the applicant protection on site,” writes the EPP.
The regulation would significantly tighten the EU asylum package, which was only passed in December 2023.
This was the first time that asylum applications could be submitted at the EU's external border.
In recent months, critics, especially from the political left, have accused the conservatives of pandering to right-wing populist forces with their demands.
EPP leader Manfred Weber rejected the allegations before the party conference.
“There is a clear firewall for us against all right-wing radicals on the continent,” wrote the CSU politician in a post on X.
EPP is prescribing von der Leyen a more conservative course for the 2024 European elections
On Thursday afternoon, around 2,000 delegates are expected to name von der Leyen as the top candidate.
There are no opposing candidates, which is why the election of the Commission President is considered certain.
Von der Leyen will then have to implement the conservative program that her party has prescribed for her during the election campaign and after the European elections in June.
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However, EPP leader Weber recently publicly supported von der Leyen.
“Ursula von der Leyen is our top candidate, and all programmatic positions of the European People's Party are shared by Ursula von der Leyen,” Weber made it clear once again during the party conference.
This of course also applies to the European election manifesto.
(
fd with material from afp)