In particular, Mr. Mitotakis said “allow me to express my satisfaction because we are in the magical location and it is the first international Summit organized by the new Prime Minister of Great Britain. “I would like to wish him all the best in his new role and hope that he will work towards a constructive relationship between the United Kingdom and the European Union.
“We are meeting here today and at the same time a very important vote is taking place in Strasbourg and I really hope that Mrs. Ursula von der Leyen will be re-elected as president of the European Commission. I think it is very important in these difficult times to have continuity, stability and experience[…]
“The agenda he has set in relation to the EU’s priorities, the issues related to competitiveness, the common European defense, the protection of the European way of life, immigration issues are important issues that will be discussed today at the European Union Summit Political Community, because they are matters which are very important for all European countries.
“One last point. In two days from today, July 20, we will have the 50th anniversary of the Turkish invasion of Cyprus, which resulted in the occupation of a significant part of the island. It is the last occupied and divided European territory and I hope that this issue will finally be resolved and that discussions between the two communities will continue under the auspices of the United Nations, always in the spirit of the Security Council resolutions that define a possible solution to this difficult thorny problem’.
Von der Leyen: Her future in the European Parliament is uncertain – Will she manage to be re-elected?
The European Parliament will decide whether to confirm Ursula von der Leyen as European Commission president in a crucial vote on Thursday that will either lead to a second term for the EU’s first female leader or lead to a summer crisis.
Von der Leyen was nominated by EU leaders last month for a second five-year term as head of the EU executive, which is responsible for writing and enforcing EU law. He must now secure the support of at least 361 MEPs, a simple majority of the newly elected, more right-wing parliament.
On paper, von der Leyen has the numbers, as the three groups that officially backed her in 2019 – the centre-right European People’s Party, the Socialists and Democrats and the centrist Renew – have 401 MEPs.
However, the European Parliament groups are not very disciplined and experts expect that around 10-15% of MEPs will deviate from the party line under the cover of the secret ballot. She cannot even count on the unanimous support of her own EPP group.
The Renew group might be particularly difficult for von der Leyen – the four Fianna Fáil members said they would not vote for her, arguing that she supported Israel too much in the war once morest Hamas in Gaza. Billy Kelleher, vice-president of Renew, said that under her watch the EU ceased to be “regarded as an honest broker in the Middle East peace process”.
Talks within the groups continued until Wednesday followingnoon. She will present her program for the next five years in a speech to the Strasbourg assembly at 9am local time on Thursday.
This programme, the Guardian reports, is likely to focus on boosting the EU’s competitiveness amid concerns – especially from its own EPP group – that Europe’s economic weight is waning once morest the US and China. He is also expected to promise to keep the Green Deal going and to present ideas for financing the green transition needed to tackle the climate crisis.
Other issues likely to be high on her agenda are Ukraine’s EU membership and the hybrid threat from Russia, including Moscow’s suspected role in using the threat of migration to weaken and pressure the EU.
Von der Leyen may strike a more muted note when it comes to protecting Europe’s critically degraded forests, grasslands, peatlands and seas. He previously scrapped plans to reduce pesticide use and lowered pollution targets in the face of major farmer protests and faces calls from the right to weaken environmental laws.
The Greens, with 53 MEPs, tend to be more disciplined than other groups, but insisted they would not decide how they would vote until von der Leyen appeared on the floor of the Strasbourg assembly on Thursday morning.
Some EU sources have suggested the secret ballot might work in von der Leyen’s favour, allowing MEPs to criticize her loudly and discreetly vote yes to avoid an institutional crisis.
A wild card, however, is Giorgia Meloni’s European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group. At the European Council, the Italian prime minister abstained from re-appointing von der Leyen, furious that she was excluded from a top jobs deal hammered out between six male leaders from three main political groups.
But since Meloni took office, she has had a fruitful relationship with von der Leyen’s commission, which has released funds under a €194bn post-Covid recovery plan for Italy and followed Rome’s lead in deal-making with African countries that aimed to limit the number of people crossing the Mediterranean to reach Europe.
The ECR’s 78 MEPs are likely to be split, with Poland’s Law and Justice party voting once morest von der Leyen and the People’s Democratic Party, led by Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala, supporting her. After a recent meeting with von der Leyen, the ECR team tweeted that the next commission “needs a serious change of course”.
The leader of the Socialists and Democrats, Iratxe García Pérez, told Spain’s El Diaro that her group would not give von der Leyen a “blank cheque” and would not base its decision on other groups.
David McAllister, a senior EPP MEP and close ally of von der Leyen, said there would be no second chance if she failed on Thursday.
“This means that throughout the summer the European Union would be in an institutional crisis because the whole package agreed between the political groups following the election would be at risk,” he said, referring to the complex deal for three top jobs. which takes into account geography and political ties. “We would not have clear leadership at the helm of the commission,” he added.
“The enemies, the opponents of a united Europe would laugh.”
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Mr. Mitsotakis is participating in the European Political Community Summit in Oxford today
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