Ursula von der Leyen puts defence at heart of her re-election campaign
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
Ursula von der Leyen is running for a second term as the European Commission’s president on a pledge to centralise defence.
Mrs von der Leyen’s move to essentially run on a defence ticket comes amid fears Donald Trump could pull US security guarantees that have sheltered Europe since the end of the Second World War.
She will promise to use Brussels’ funds to build the next generation of tanks, fighter jets and drones, to make the bloc a genuine security powerhouse and end its reliance on Washington.
The pledge is a direct response to the alarm bells set ringing when Mr Trump suggested he would encourage Russia to attack European Nato members that fail to meet the alliance’s defence spending targets.
Net zero concessions
Mrs von der Leyen, 65, who was first appointed as the EU’s top official in 2019, will also promise to rebrand herself as a conservative by watering down the bloc’s net zero ambitions in response to climate sceptics and irate European farmers.
She announced her candidacy on Monday at a meeting of her German Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party in Berlin.
The former German defence minister, who was largely considered a failure in the role by her peers, has rebuilt her reputation as a political operator through her handling of the Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine.
She has been lauded for her support for Kyiv in its fight against the illegal Russian invasion, which included backing the war-torn nation’s push to join the EU at breakneck speed.
Under Mrs von der Leyen’s guidance, the bloc has devised joint funds of almost €100 billion to pay for military and financial support to Ukraine.
With European weapons stocks dangerously low and Kyiv in desperate need of munitions to fuel its fight against Russian forces, the 65-year-old will encourage EU arms manufacturers to “huddle up” on joint projects to boost production.
Taxpayers’ money will be dished out to encourage member states to spend on European products rather than buying from overseas, such as the US or UK.
‘Huddle up for a new tank’
“We should work with incentives so that it is better for member states to work together. Say you want a new tank? Well, huddle up,” she recently told the FT.
The scheme will be modelled on the bloc’s joint procurement of Covid vaccines, which resulted in the Commission taking charge of pooled negotiations to secure supplies faster and cheaper.
So far Europe’s arms production has been sluggish, with the EU failing on its promise to deliver one million 155mm artillery shells to Ukraine by March as part of a joint procurement project.
But Mrs von der Leyen will argue that this must change to ensure its forces are supplied amid Mr Trump’s plans for Nato and Ukraine.
Even if Joe Biden, who is a close ally of the German, wins a second term in the White House, Mrs von der Leyen said: “For 20, 30, 40 years, our peace was about integration and peace within Europe. Now for the first time we are speaking about protection from outside.”
Mr Biden, supported by his wife, Jill, had championed Mrs von der Leyen to become the next Nato secretary-general, but this was previously spurned by Olaf Scholz, the German chancellor, who feared she could be too tough on Vladimir Putin.
The EU will appoint a defence commissioner for the first time to oversee Mrs von der Leyen’s proposed overhaul.
‘Shockwaves through Brussels’
“Trump’s recent statement has once again sent shockwaves and in Brussels they’re all talking about it,” said Natalie Sabanadze, senior research fellow on Chatham House’s Russia and Eurasia programme.
She said it would be “vital” for the EU and UK to have a special agreement on defence, which was already being discussed.
“Ukraine is probably the biggest opportunity for the EU to be a geopolitical player, but it is also the biggest challenge,” she added.
Mrs von der Leyen was appointed Commission president in 2019 in a surprise move by European leaders.
Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel teamed up to parachute Mrs von der Leyen into the post.
The European Council’s backing for a second term is seen as a foregone conclusion, with only Viktor Orban, the Hungarian prime minister, viewed as a potential opposition.
But there are concerns Mrs von der Leyen will hit roadblocks in the European Parliament, where she requires a majority vote to secure her position.
She was only confirmed in the job by a narrow majority of just nine votes in the Parliament last time, reaching out to the Greens with environmentalist proposals to secure their backing to get over the line.
Recent polling predicts that anti-European populists, conservative and hard-Right parties will emerge victorious in nine European countries in this year’s EU elections.
In a further nine countries, including her native Germany, populists or nationalists are expected to finish in second or third.
Farmers’ protests
It is likely that Mrs von der Leyen will seek to water down the bloc’s net zero plans to appease farmers whose protests have erupted across the bloc.
Convoys of tractors have snarled up roads and supermarket distribution centres in Germany, France, Belgium, Spain, Italy and the Netherlands in protest over the bloc’s green diktats.
Mrs von der Leyen recently ditched demands to cut pesticide use in half in a move largely seen as creating a better rapport with populist leaders.
Alberto Alemanno, a European law professor, said: “Ursula von der Leyen has a serious chance to get a second term at the helm of the Commission, joining [Walter] Hallstein, [Jacques] Delors and [José Manuel] Barroso’s hall of honour.
“Yet to secure the job she might be asked by the CDU to undo her major achievements during her tenure – from delaying climate action to suspending the enlargement and reform of the Union – while being asked to pursue the latter by the socialists, liberals and Greens.”
