Manfred Weber considers Ursula von der Leyen to be the right person to continue as President of the European Commission following the recent election victory for the EPP group. According to Weber, the outcome of the election should be respected, and von der Leyen should therefore be re-elected to the position. He made these comments ahead of the final election result. The EPP group is expected to have a strong position in the European Parliament with 181 seats, making it the largest group. Weber urges the social democratic and liberal groups to form a pro-European alliance to support von der Leyen.
Under the informal spitzenkandidat process, it is the leaders of the largest group who are expected to fill the position of President of the European Commission. Weber stated: “We are asking them to respect the election result, so Ursula von der Leyen becomes the next President of the European Commission.” Officially, it is the heads of state and government of the EU countries who nominate candidates for the position, but forecasts indicate that von der Leyen may secure a new term if she can ensure a majority in the European Parliament.
In the 2019 vote, her election was secured by just nine votes. This time, von der Leyen appears to have the support of the social democrats, who have also had strong election results and are the second largest group in the parliament. Pedro Marques from the S&D group stated: “We will respect the spitzenkandidat process in the upcoming negotiations.” The S&D group supports von der Leyen, but it also depends on her political program and her cooperation with the ECR group on the right, which the social democrats oppose.
The Renew group, which includes Venstre, Moderates, and The Radicals, does not want to discuss the distribution of top positions until the election results are official. Iskra Mihaylova from the Renew group says: “Even though the far right has made gains, we are still the third largest group. We insist on European values and respect for the rule of law.” It is clear that there will be intense negotiations about the distribution of top positions in the EU, but with strong support, Ursula von der Leyen seems to have good chances for a new term as President of the European Commission.