‘It was the extremist Greens wot won it for Ursula’ – Is the EU now in for chaos?

How does this ‘election’ with only one candidate affect the British?

Montage © Facts4EU.Org 2024

And what did Ursula promise to the competing groups to get re-elected as Commission President?

Last Thursday Ursula von der Leyen was re-elected as EU Commission President for five more years with 401 votes out of a possible 720. If she made pacts in return for votes, and it seems she did, she’ll find it hard to keep everyone happy.

Naturally, in the true ‘democratic’ traditions of the EU, this was a secret ballot and the public has no right to know who voted for von der Leyen. That said, we now know that it was the Greens who secured victory for the incumbent and beleagured EU Commission President. The 45 or so Greens (the exact numbers in the political groupings change slightly on a fairly regular basis) have said that in the final 24 hours they decided to support her.

Without the Greens, von der Leyen would only have reached approximately 356 votes – around five less than the 361 required. Without them she would have lost.

Brexit Facts4EU.Org Summary

The vote for EU Commission President, 2024

1. The final votes for and against Ursula von der Leyen

For : 401
Against : 284
Abstentions : 15
Invalid : 7
Not registered/Not present : 13
TOTAL : 720

[Source : EU Parliament, July 2024.]

2. The result if the Greens had voted against von der Leyen

Required to win : 361

For : 356
Against : 329
Abstentions : 15
Invalid : 7
Not registered/Not present : 13
TOTAL : 720

[Source : EU Parliament and the Greens, July 2024.]

Mrs von der Leyen would not have won the required number of MEPs' votes.
She would have lost.

The big question now is the following

“Just what extreme Net Zero policies did von der Leyen offer the Greens at the last minute to secure their very essential support?”

And why should British people care about the answer?

The new UK government of Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour Party has spoken every day since being elected about their desire to ‘align more closely’ with the EU. We will not have all the details for many weeks, but it is worth looking at exactly what they would be aligning the UK with. We strongly suspect this will impact the British people.

Here is what the Greens said just before the vote

The Greens/EFA Group has formally decided to support Ursula @vonderleyen as @EU_Commission President.

As part of the 4-party majority, we have secured commitments on the #EUGreenDeal, making the EU more socially fair & protecting democracy.

We keep the far-right out of power.
— Greens/EFA in the EU Parliament 🌍 (@GreensEFA) July 18, 2024

The Greens’ co-leader is the German MEP, Terry Reintke. Here is part of her speech on Thursday.

"What is crucial is that the majority that holds is the majority of pro-European Groups in this House. We need to keep the far-right from getting into power." - our co-president @TerryReintke at today's @vonderleyen hearing pic.twitter.com/SO3v5iYcN6
— Greens/EFA in the EU Parliament 🌍 (@GreensEFA) July 18, 2024

And here is what Ursula von der Leyen told reporters after the vote

Following the vote and its shock result, von der Leyen spoke to reporters. Unsurprisingly her support from the Greens attracted interest, given that their policies are in direct contrast to those of the largest political grouping in the Parliament. Here is what she said.

“I am also very grateful to the Green group to have supported me.
We had extensive exchanges on all the topics and it’s a good sign that at the very end obviously, they were convinced to support me.”

Von der Leyen will no doubt have been very happy that this was a secret ballot

She has a reputation in Brussels for being secretive, playing loose with internal regulations and norms, and of mostly consulting with a small clique of close German advisors. This has been widely reported by numerous sources.

It was on the eve of Thursday’s key vote that the EU Court of Justice found against her and her Commission for refusing to disclose key information about the deals that were done with drugs companies at the time of Covid. (See our report here.) She still faces another ‘Pfizergate’ action in the EU Court for a range of other complaints. Conveniently this prosecution was taken over by the EU prosecutor’s office just before Thursday’s vote, and they delayed it by six months.

Observations

Once again the elected representatives of the citizens of the EU were presented with just one candidate to vote for. Readers may be interested to know that in her speech to the EU Parliament, Ursula von der Leyen said this :

“Honourable Members, Democracy is our common treasure.”

This, from the woman who has just got elected after being the only name on the ballot paper. There was no choice.

Regarding her last-minute deal with the Greens to get over the line, time will tell what she promised them. Reconciling the Greens' policies (and they are a very small section of the EU Parliament) with those of the major groupings is going to be interesting to watch.

Just prior to this vote, we predicted it would be very close but that von der Leyen would probably scrape a win. We did not, however, expect that the Greens would swing behind her at the last minute. No-one did, as it was so improbable. Without them, as we have shown, the incumbent EU Commission President would have lost.

Our post-vote prediction is that the fun and games will now start. We fully expect constant battles and schisms. Most of these will be of little interest to British readers. What does matter, however, is just what the EU is becoming. This matters because the new Labour government is stating on a daily basis how much it wishes to 'align more closely' with the EU. The problem is - as it has been for many years - just what type of EU it wishes to align with.

NOTICE : Facts4EU is now scaling back to publishing 5 days-a-week

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[ Sources: EU Parliament | EU Commission | Greens' Twitter feed ] Politicians and journalists can contact us for details, as ever.

Brexit Facts4EU.Org, Tues 23 Jul 2024

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Reader Comments 3

1. Old Albion , Tuesday, July 23, 2024, 06:10:

It's almost as though the EU is corrupt ..................

2. NH , Tuesday, July 23, 2024, 09:38:

Looks like the cost of EU membership is about to go through the roof. Ursula has recently stated that the money is running out "but our investment needs have not". She wants to continue NextGen (more EU debt) and as 30% of it has been used to pay for the Green Deal it's obvious why. Maybe it's called NextGen because it's the Next Generation that will end up paying for it.
.
At the same time the former EU Secretary General, Klaus Welle, has recently stated the present EU budget is impossible and "capitals will have to open their wallets". He wants more cash for Enlargement, Defense, Green Deal, Digital Investments etc.
.
Maybe it's a coincidence that Giogia Meloni has suddenly made a political U-turn and returned to being a Eurosceptic just as the NextGen funding allocations are running out. Italy and Spain have been the largest recipients of NextGen cash and without this, and the other costly support measures, they would be in serious recession.

3. LuxuryBalloon , Tuesday, July 23, 2024, 22:48:

Facts4EU ‘We did not, however, expect that the Greens would swing behind her at the last minute.’ … well, the Greens lost big in the EU elections. The only way the Greens can have some influence in the European Parliament is if they move politically towards the centre. In addition Facts4EU forgot to mention that Von der Leyen also got some support as well from MEPs belonging to the right-wing ECR group.
Facts4EU is nearly as good at forecasting as the OBR.
REPLY FROM THE FACTS4EU TEAM : We predicted Ursula von der Leyen would win. She did.
Do please read the reports before commenting.
(Conversation closed.)

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