Republicans oppose a new mandate for Ursula von der Leyen

Since Ursula von der Leyen applied on February 19 to remain president of the European Commission, François-Xavier Bellamy has been insisting: he is against her reappointment. However, they both belong to the EPP, the European People’s Party. But the LR candidate for the Europeans accuses Ursula Von Der Leyen of having a record “not up to par”having “largely contributed to weakening the European Union” and for aligning itself too much with the positions of environmentalists. The French right criticizes him in particular for having harmed agriculture. François-Xavier Bellamy expressed his grievances to the President of the European Commission 15 days ago in a group meeting. He often has the impression that the priorities of the right are “the least heard”.

The French right also criticizes Ursula Von Der Leyen for being too close to Emmanuel Macron. “Already in 2019 it was not our candidate but that of Macron”, torpedo LR, which supported the candidacy of another German, Manfred Weber, president of the EPP group in the European Parliament. “She committed her crime by going to the Renaissance campus in Bordeaux this fall,” accuses a MEP. This is proof that she owes her nomination to Macron more than to us!”. While its allied party in France is supposed to be LR. The right did not digest this episode where Ursula Von Der Leyen gave “my dear friends” to members of the presidential party. “She went to the opponent!”, “that’s a lot in addition to his contradictory positions with LR” others curse. “That day, explains a close friend of François-Xavier Bellamy, we had confirmation that it would be complicated to work together.”

Sole candidate for succession to the EPP

But the Republicans do not have the means to compromise a new candidacy by Ursula von der Leyen since she is the only candidate to succeed her in the EPP. There will be no alternative bulletin on Thursday March 7 at the EPP congress in Bucharest. LR, however, hopes that it will miss more than the eight LR votes. Remember that the French delegation is eight elected out of the 177 from the European People’s Party, a consequence of LR’s poor result in the 2019 European elections. The Germans from the CD, for example, are 29. “We are a minority but not alone”, assures Sarkozy MEP Brice Hortefeux. LR is counting on blank anti-von der Leyen ballots from other countries, even if that doesn’t change the result. For François-Xavier Bellamy it is above all a question of getting this message across: “von der Leyen must reorient his action.”