CDU leader Friedrich Merz has backed EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen in the debate about the top candidate for the next European elections. According to participants, Merz said at the most recent meeting of the CDU federal executive board that von der Leyen was doing a good job. If she wants to run as the top candidate of the European People’s Party (EPP), she will certainly get the support of the CDU.
Merz distanced himself from EPP boss and deputy CSU chairman Manfred Weber. At the end of January, he surprisingly brought the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, into play as a possible EPP top candidate. “Both would be excellent top candidates,” he said at the time about von der Leyen and Metsola.
A report from the magazine MirrorA CDU spokesman described as “wrong” that Merz von der Leyen had already proclaimed EPP top candidate in the federal executive board meeting. The chairman of Germany’s CDU “can’t announce the EPP’s top candidacy and hasn’t done so,” said the spokesman. It is up to von der Leyen to decide whether she is available again as President of the European Commission. Everything else will “then be decided together within the EPP party family”.
Weber’s dealings with the Italian post-fascists met with criticism
At the top of the CDU and CSU there is also resentment about Weber’s comparatively friendly treatment of the Fratelli d’Italia party of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. In contrast to Weber, Merz and CSU boss Markus Söder sharply distance themselves from the post-fascist party. In her view, a rapprochement with the Fratelli d’Italia would, among other things, make the clear demarcation of the Union from the AfD in Germany appear implausible.
With his statements about Ursula von der Leyen and Roberta Metsola, Weber caused astonishment not only in the CDU, but also in Brussels. Metsola is a member of the EPP Group in the European Parliament. The 44-year-old is also one of the most talented young politicians in Europe’s Christian Democrats. But the right to make a proposal for the Commission Presidency lies with the European Council, i.e. the 27 heads of state and government of the EU. The European Parliament can only agree to this proposal or reject it.
As a rule, the heads of state or government nominate a person from their own circle, ie a former prime minister. In addition, the party to which Metsola belongs in her home country of Malta is in the opposition there. Malta’s Prime Minister Robert Abela would therefore have to agree to the promotion of a political rival in the European Council.
In the context of the Leyens, Weber’s tactical moves are therefore seen quite calmly. It is also pointed out there that the national chairmen of the EPP member parties – in Germany Merz and Söder – have an important say in the search for candidates. And from Merz’ point of view, it makes little sense to push von der Leyen away and replace him with Metsola: If von der Leyen were to lose her current post, the CDU would lose one of the most powerful EU offices. According to the Ampel coalition agreement, the German seat on the Commission will then go to the Greens.