European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has given the clearest signal yet that she is ready to cooperate with the European Conservatives and Reformists group, which includes far-right MEPs such as the Brotherhood of Italy of Giorgia Meloni and the Law and Justice party of Poland.
Speaking at the Maastricht debate, organized by POLITICO and Studio Europa Maastricht, von der Leyen made clear that she would not work with the far-right group Identity and Democracy.
Asked by the Greens’ Bas Eickhout whether this approach extended to the ECR, von der Leyen replied — after skirting the subject for almost a minute — “It depends a lot on the composition of Parliament and who is in which band. »
Earlier this year, the Commission president hinted that she would be willing, after June’s European elections, to work with some ECR group politicians who are more right-wing than her own centre-centre European People’s Party. right, but on its terms.
Von der Leyen is seeking a second five-year term as head of the European Union’s powerful executive branch. To achieve this, however, it will need the approval of a majority of MEPs in the European Parliament, which is expected to shift to the right.
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