Ursula von der Leyen will announce her candidacy for a second term as president of the European Commission early next week. The official's initiatives to promote climate change in the EU through a combination of incentives and regulation have been facing a decline in popularity in her own political party for some time, but are attracting the attention of opponents, writes Euractiv and reports UNN.
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At home, in Germany, the President of the European Commission's greening of EU policy has made her more popular with her opponents than with her own party, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). The close relationship with her home country is even so complex that it may put pressure on von der Leyen to suspend or abandon some of the core policies of the Green Deal for Europe (Wren Treaty) if she is elected to a second term.
Her goal of promoting climate change in the EU through a combination of incentives and regulation has paradoxically made her popular with the federal government, but less so with her own CDU.
A Forsa poll in 2023 showed that CDU voters support a second term for von der Leyen as head of the European Commission at a relatively low 51 percent. According to Euractiv, this is no higher than the figures among voters of the Greens and the Free Democratic Party.
The owners of small and medium-sized enterprises in Germany are critical of the tightening of environmental regulations - last month, at the CDU economic conference, industry representatives expressed their disappointment.
Manfred Weber, the head of the European People's Party (the European family of the CDU), openly advocated the abolition of the ban on internal combustion engines. In particular, he argued that such a policy had damaged Bavaria's leading automotive industry.
Since the CDU is willing to accept the inconvenience and does not deny its representatives the top position, it is von der Leyen's candidacy as the main EPP candidate that is most expected on Monday (February 19).
Reducing bureaucracy, competitiveness, new climate rules and warnings on immigration are the key words that CDU leader Friedrich Merz could announce on Monday, says Johannes Lindner of the Jacques Delors Centre (a think tank on the subject of the European Union).
And Ms. von der Leyen has made it clear that during her second term she will focus a little more on CDU priorities
Recall
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that Brussels should encourage the European defense industry to consolidate and increase production.