A presentation of the broad outlines of her programme comes as MEPs vote on Thursday on her reappointment as president of the European Commission.
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European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who is running for a second term, pledged to MEPs on Thursday 18 July to aim for a net reduction of 90% in the EU’s greenhouse gas emissions by 2040 compared to 1990.
This objective, a key step towards achieving carbon neutrality by 2050, will be included in a legislative text proposed to the Member States by the next Commission. Following the Green Deal, “u“A new clean industries pact will help lower energy bills,” whose high prices “hinder our competitiveness”promised Ursula von der Leyen, who also announced the creation of a European Commissioner for Housing. She also indicated that she wanted to strengthen Frontex and “triple” the number of border guards.
The President of the European Commission also called for “a strong Europe” in “period of great anxiety and uncertainty.”
MEPs will vote on Thursday on her reappointment as president of the European Commission. She is trying to secure a majority potentially ranging from the Greens to Giorgia Meloni’s party, by presenting her roadmap for the next five years.
The outcome of the vote, which will take place by secret ballot from 1 p.m., is expected to be tight after the surge of the extreme right in the June elections, even if the German conservative seems in a good position after intense talks with political groups.
The Twenty-Seven had agreed at the end of June to grant her a new five-year term at the head of the European executive, where she has imposed herself since 2019 through crises, from Covid-19 to the war in Ukraine. Ursula von der Leyen, 65, must now secure the green light from at least 361 of the 719 MEPs gathered in plenary session in Strasbourg. Before speaking in the hemicycle, she unveiled a political roadmap in which she attempts to meet the expectations – sometimes contradictory – of the various groups.