Yesterday Empress Ursula of the EU lost in Court - Today she battles to keep her job
EU President snubs Starmer’s UK ‘European event’, to plead with MEPs to save her
Montage © Facts4EU.Org 2024
In Strasbourg she will be fighting for her political life
Yesterday the EU Court of Justice handed down its verdict in a court case against Ursula von der Leyen and her EU Commission. Mrs von der Leyen lost. This must have been devastating news for the EU Commission President, on the eve of the vital vote in the EU Parliament in Strasbourg today, where she will be battling for her political future.
In its judgements yesterday :-
“The General Court upholds the two actions in part and annuls the Commission’s decisions in so far as they contain irregularities.”
In layman’s terms, on various counts von der Leyen and her Commission were found ‘guilty as charged’.
Cloak of secrecy around EU purchase contracts with Big Pharma for Covid vaccines
The Court found that von der Leyen’s Commission hid important facts about the purchase of billions of pounds worth of Covid-19 vaccines. Forced to reveal details, they did so only in part and many documents contained large redactions.
The Commission argued they did this for ‘reasons of commercial confidentiality’. The Court disagreed. This is a damning judgement against Ursula von der Leyen.
Von der Leyen snubs Starmer’s big European event at Blenheim today
This EU Commission President would never normally miss an opportunity to parade on an international stage, but in snubbing Keir Starmer’s ‘European Political Community’ event at Blenheim Palace today, she will have missed two in as many weeks. (The first one being the NATO Summit in Washington DC.) What’s going on?
Her absence from the merry-go-round of sparkling international events is down to one thing : the EU’s Empress is fighting for her job…. And right now this is poised on a knife edge.
Today, instead of hobnobbing with some 45-odd European political leaders in the glorious surroundings of Blenheim, she is forced to give a speech to the EU Parliament, hoping to convince MEPs to renew her tenure as President of the EU Commission for five more years.
Today the EU Parliament votes on her future
It’s rare for the EU Parliament, elected by ordinary voters across the bloc, to be able to exert any power at all. Typically all it does is rubber-stamp decisions made by the EU27 leaders and by the unelected EU Commission.
Mired in corruption scandals for many months, today presents a rare opportunity for the EU Parliament to assert itself. EU rules dictate that the nominated candidate be approved by a majority of MEPs. 50% of the vote plus one MEP is enough, which is just as well. Five years ago Mrs von der Leyen scraped through with nine votes to spare. It may be very tight this time.
How was the sole candidate for the job selected?
At a summit, six leaders from France, Greece, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland and Spain, first struck their own private deal on the top three EU jobs. The other 21 leaders were kept waiting for hours.
Italy’s Giorgia Meloni was furious and, alongside Hungary’s Viktor Orbán, abstained from the rubber-stamping. Meloni was probably all the more angry as, with polls pointing to a shift to the right in the EU Parliament elections, von der Leyen had actively courted her with intimations of top EU Commission jobs.
After the elections, however, von der Leyen turned to the Greens (who lost 20% of their MEPs in the election), the Socialists (down 8%), and the Macron’s liberal Renew party (also down 20%).
Ursula needs all the votes she can get. Those groups were therefore well-positioned to make big demands, in particular on not moderating the ban on combustion engines and on the so-called Nature Protection law. A leaked draft of the Commission’s next five-year strategy reinstates several major “green” policies, despite their dilution earlier this year to respond to farmers’ justified furore and the signals from voters in the elections.
Rule-breaking and court cases do not help
- Yesterday’s Court ruling went against her
- Her undeclared £60,000 personal campaign spend on Google breached EU rules
- ‘Pfizergate’ court case against her is pending, accusing the Commission of usurping power, destroying public records, hiding text messages, and corruption, in negotiations with Pfizer for Covid vaccine purchases
Observations
Who are the other candidates for Commission President?
Oh Tovarishchi (Comrades), you forget yourselves! This is the EU. Much like Soviet Russia or North Korea, there is only one candidate to vote for.
Even before reaching the parliament stage, the EU Council’s nomination was problematic – it should have been all the leaders, rather than a sub-set, which made the decision.
The EU Parliament has never rejected a candidate for EU Commission head. Will Empress Ursula be its first rejection? If so we enter uncharted territory.
Our prediction? She will get 're-elected'. We say this because she was regarded in Germany as the worst member of Angela Merkel's government as Defence Minister. Somehow she was never fired. In the end she was packed off to Brussels.
This ‘election’ for EU Commission President is particularly revealing of the deep-seated democratic deficiencies in the construct which is the EU. There is a single, uncontested nominee for the most powerful role in the EU - in this case a nominee seemingly determined to stand despite unpopularity.
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[ Sources: Sources: EU Parliament | European Court of Justice | EPPO ] Politicians and journalists can contact us for details, as ever.
Brexit Facts4EU.Org, Thurs 18 Jul 2024
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