Cooperation in the European Union Parliament: Von der Leyen defends the path to dealing with rights

European Commission President von der Leyen has long been criticized because she can imagine cooperating with right-wing conservatives in the EU Parliament. In an interview, she now defends her position, outlining three criteria.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen believes that cooperation with MEPs from right-wing parties is possible under certain conditions.

She said in an interview with, “The criterion for me is that the representatives we want to work with, and to whom we make an offer, are with Europe, with Ukraine, that is, against Russia, and with the rule of law.” Week” in Deutschlandfunk. It is about winning the support of political forces that are important to the majority in the centre.

Already cooperating on the Green Deal

Since there is no obligatory bloc in the EU Parliament, a majority must always be sought on every issue. This is one of the reasons why she said: “We don't have to look at the groups, but at the representatives.”

As an example, she cited voting for climate laws, which many Greens did not go far enough. For this reason, many Green MPs did not vote in favor of the Commission's proposal.

The Green Group in the EU Parliament has criticized the fact that the conservative group in the European People's Party is cooperating with right-wing parties on the Green Deal, the EU's main climate policy project. According to a study published by Der Spiegel magazine, there was a right-wing majority in the plenary session with 340 votes on the Green Deal.

She approaches Melonie

Von der Leyen is running in the European elections at the beginning of June as the European People's Party's best candidate for a second term as Commission president. In an interview with Deutschlandfunk she talked about choosing a direction. It is about developing Europe or dividing and dismantling it, as the right-wing populists wanted.

It has long been criticized by other parties for not ruling out cooperation with the right-wing conservative EKR group in the European Parliament after the elections. The Social Democrats, the Left and the Greens accused her of cozying up to post-fascism in Italy. The Fratelli d'Italia party, led by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, belongs to the parliamentary group of the Council of Europe. Von der Leyen recently described Meloni as “clearly pro-European”.

On Thursday, Chancellor Olaf Scholz indirectly warned the Commission President against trying to secure another term after the European elections with the help of right-wing extremists. Schulz said in a press conference that he “felt very saddened by the ambiguity of some of the political statements we heard recently.”

Identity disorder

More recently, the Identity Faction of right-wing parties in the EU Parliament caused an uproar when it expelled all members of the AfD. The background was the incidents surrounding the AfD candidate, Maximilian Krah, who was not only accused of publishing controversial statements about the SS in an Italian newspaper.

He and deputy European election candidate Peter Bystrun are also accused of having close contacts with Russia and China respectively.