VDL2 starts Monday. How far to the right will she drift?
The EU Parliament today confirmed President von der Leyen's second commission, but many center-left MEPs did not do so gladly after worrying signs of her courtship of the far right.
Members of the European Parliament today confirmed the second Commission of President Ursula von der Leyen - by the narrowest margin in EU history. 53.7% of MEPs voted yes to the college of 27 commissioners, barely achieving the simple majority required. The 370 yes votes were far less than the 401 she received in July for the Parliament’s confirmation of her personally as president. It reflects a deep discomfort with the overtures the president’s center-right EPP group has made to the far right since June’s EU election, with EPP leader Manfred Weber making veiled threats to break away from the center and form a governing coalition with the far right. The razor-thin confirmation margin means that von der Leyen was dependent on the votes of Giorgia Meloni’s far right Brothers of Italy MEPs, who had actually voted against her in the July confirmation vote. But they voted for her this time for one simple reason: she gave a Commission vice presidency to Brothers of Italy member Raffaele Fitto.
Weber has been insisting that it is acceptable to work with Meloni’s ECR group, which also contains far right parties such as the Sweden Democrats, True Finns, Polish Law and Justice and Greek Solution because they are pro-Ukraine and therefor, by his association, pro-European. Von der Leyen repeated this line during the election campaign and again this morning ahead of the confirmation vote, telling MEPs: “We will work with all democratic pro-European forces in this House. And as I have done in my first mandate, I will always work from the centre.” The big question is whether she starts work from the center but ends up working on the far right.