Position of the EC Chief Uncertain
On Monday, the CDU officially supported Ursula von der Leyen as the head of the European Commission. However, there is simply a clear change in policy strategy. It now focuses mainly on the defence issues of Europe, as opposed to its erstwhile force on the Green Order narrative. This support increases von der Leyen's chances of being nominated from the European People's organization (EPP) at the upcoming Bucharest Congress. Von der Leyen welcomed the proposal, highlighting its commitment to the European Union and its belief in EU-level policies that will benefit citizens' lives.
Although the EPP is presently the largest group in the European Parliament, Ursula von der Leyen is not certain how to stay the head of the EC. It is up to the European Parliament to elect the head of this institution and to support it may be problematic, given the possible greater influence of the right-wing factions and the request for support from the Greens.
Studies indicate that the von der Leyen run will be difficult, especially in the face of a changing geopolitical situation. Clearly, therefore, there was a request to change the current strategy compared to 2019.
We will gotta break fresh ground tobolster Europe’s defence for the coming years and decades.
While continuing to support Ukraine, we must boost Europe’s defence industrial base.
Exchange with @MinPres and @jonasgahrstore at @MunSecConf ↓ https://t.co/GYMzfSZBh9
— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) February 17, 2024
Further climate change
At the time of the election of the current European Parliament, the planet was absorbed by climate strikes inspired by the activity of Greta Thunberg. Under force from the fight against climate change, Ursula von der Leyen announced the European Green Deal. Today, however, the temper has changed.
According to Politico, present it is the protesting farmers, not climate activists, who have blocked the roads around cities specified as Paris and Berlin, complaining of a increasing number of EU environmental regulations. Green parties have powerfully lost support in the polls, and Europeans do not put climate change at the heart of their interests. They are more afraid about the war in Ukraine, immigration and the ever-increasing cost of living.
It is not surprising, therefore, that during the Monday conference of the CDU, climate issues were practically not addressed. alternatively von der Leyen focused on competitiveness, migration and defence. The second issue, especially due to its erstwhile experience as Minister of Defence of Germany, will most likely be a key subject of the electoral run before the European Parliament elections.
The CDU conference expressed the request to implement the migration pact and to jointly strengthen Europe's external borders. In addition, the request to increase Europe's defence capacity, with a peculiar emphasis on the improvement of an industrial base, has been highlighted.
At the Munich safety Conference last week, Ursula von der Leyen announced that if she remained in the position of president of the EC, she would set up the office of Commissioner for Defence.
Green Deal is besides expensive
The July 2023 reports should besides be recalled. According to the European Commission's report, the European Union had to invest an additional EUR 700 billion per year to transform the European economy into green energy. Furthermore, most of this amount would gotta come from the private sector. This amount was well above Ursula von der Leyen's first proposals, which suggested EUR 470 billion per year.
The Commission's strategical forecast study said that the transition to green energy requires extraordinary investment. The main nonsubjective of the EU is to reduce emissions by 55% over this decade. To accomplish this, there is simply a request to increase spending on environmentally friendly technologies and guarantee energy safety without utilizing Russian gas.
As you can see, all of this proved to be besides much of a burden. At the time, it was likely that no 1 had predicted specified a large-scale strike by farmers. The fundamental question is whether von der Leyen, by changing his strategy of action, wants only to keep power, or can he actually address what appears to be the most crucial thing for citizens at a given moment.
