These are some of the points in a 31-page program von der Leyen presented on Thursday, ahead of the vote in the EU Parliament.
Measures to tighten border control to the EU are central points in the programme.
– We will not show any tolerance for those who, with hybrid attacks, threaten the security of the border and our citizens, it says, among other things.
– Hostile actors who push people across the EU’s outer borders for political purposes should be seen as a threat to our security and should be sanctioned, von der Leyen believes.
Defense Union
If von der Leyen gets another term as president of the European Commission, she also promises to build “a real defense union” for the arms industry in the EU.
She also promises to tighten the requirement to cut emissions of harmful greenhouse gases to 90 per cent by 2040, with certain exceptions.
Uncertain outcome
Von der Leyen has been actively lobbying the party groups for several weeks, but it is not certain that she will be re-elected.
The newly elected EU Parliament will vote on Thursday, and several representatives said at the latest on Wednesday that they had not made up their minds.
No challengers
The governments of the 27 member states support her candidacy, but the 65-year-old must have at least 361 votes, half of the representatives. If she does not get that, the union will be thrown into a leadership crisis that may take a long time to resolve.
There are no challengers or plan B. Support from her own party group EPP, the Socialists and the Liberals will on paper give her 401 votes, but the vote is secret, and several delegates are expected to break with their party group.
When she was installed in 2019, von der Leyen needed 374 votes and ended up with 383, a narrow majority.
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2024-07-18 16:47:53