Good morning from Brussels, 

Ursula von der Leyen will deliver a speech at the European Parliament on Thursday (18 July) to ensure a majority to get her reelected to the presidency of the European Commission. 

Procedurally, according to the Parliament’s agenda, von der Leyen will make a statement at 9 AM, followed by a debate until 11 AM. The vote will take place at 1 PM, and after 30 minutes, votes will be counted and then announced at around 2:45 PM.

Von der Leyen currently relies on the safe majority of the pro-EU coalition consisting of the centre-right EPP, EU socialists and liberal Renew, while the Greens have also expressed their will to join on conditions.

However, as the vote is secret, defections cannot be ruled out.

While the pro-EU coalition has politically vowed to stick together against the rise of the far-right blocs, there is still unclarity and even divergence in some policy areas.

To minimise the risk of defections from the pro-EU coalition, von der Leyen will have to be extra careful in some policy areas during her speech before the vote in the EU House.

Euractiv’s newsroom looked at these sensitive policy areas that need extra attention.

Trump’s assassination attempt wakes EU populists up

Meanwhile, Europe’s populists have tried to politically take advantage of the assassination attempt on Sunday against former US President Donald Trump. 

In Spain, Poland and Slovakia, populists attacked their political opponents or the media, while UK’s Nigel Farage put the blame on “liberals”. The Kremlin also waded in and accused the US administration of creating an atmosphere that provoked the attack.

Ahead of a discussion on the future of cohesion policy with German Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP/Renew) in Brussels on Monday, the centre-right Bavarian party CSU (EPP) has warned against centralising the funds – as considered by the European Commission – or cutting them – as wanted by Berlin. Jonathan Packroff has more.

Geothermal energy is the first item on the agenda of an informal meeting of EU energy ministers on Monday and Tuesday in Budapest, where they will discuss how to overcome barriers to deploying this under-exploited energy source. Nathan Canas has the story.

Meanwhile, ahead of this week’s European Parliament plenary session in Strasbourg, German Conservative MEP Peter Liese (CDU, EPP) outlined his centre-right group’s priorities for the new term, including the urgent revision of the EU’s Medical Devices Regulation. Catherine Feore has more.

LONDON

European leaders to discuss ‘arc of conflict’ at UK-hosted EPC summit. The “arc of conflict and instability” threatening Europe’s borders will be the focus of the upcoming European Political Community (EPC) meeting near London, the UK’s new government said on Saturday. Read more.

PARIS

Macron intends to keep control on French commissioner’s appointment in Brussels. With no majority emerging in the French parliament following the 7 July legislative elections, President Emmanuel Macron has to deal with opposition parties trying to interfere in the appointment of a future French commissioner. Read more.

ROME

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni will reveal her position on whether she will support a second term for Commission President Ursula von der Leyen after the latter presents her programme to Meloni’s hard-right European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group on Tuesday, just days before EU lawmakers confirm her candidacy in a secret ballot. Read more.

ECB has gone too far in pushing UniCredit to quit Russia, Italy’s Tajani says. The European Central Bank has overreached in pushing Italian bank UniCredit to get out of Russia, Italy’s Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said on Friday. Read more.

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MADRID

VOX leader suggests Spanish left regrets Trump survived attack. VOX leader Santiago Abascal used the assassination attempt on Donald Trump to slam Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s PSOE and the left-wing Sumar platform, saying they are secretly lamenting that he survived the attack. Read more.

WARSAW

Polish opposition links Tusk to Trump assassination attempt. Polish politicians reacted to Saturday’s attack on Donald Trump, with some opposition figures accusing the ruling coalition of fuelling political polarisation and linking Prime Minister Donald Tusk to the assassination attempt.  Read more.

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BRATISLAVA

Fico compares Trump’s shooting to his own assassination attempt. Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD/NI), who recently survived a politically motivated shooting, drew parallels between his experience and the recent assassination attempt on former US President Donald Trump, suggesting that their political opponents are inciting public anger and pushing individuals to resort to violence. Read more.

SOFIA

Bulgarian politicians condemn Trump assassination attempt. Bulgarian politicians from across the political spectrum strongly condemned the attempted assassination of Donald Trump and wished him and the injured a speedy recovery, while the leader of the pro-Russian nationalists blamed liberals and globalists for what he called a wave of violence without offering an argument. Read more.

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TIRANA

Albania allows imprisoned Greek MEP to attend Strasbourg session. Albania on Sunday authorised a dual Greek national imprisoned on charges of electoral corruption to travel to France to take part in the European Parliament’s inaugural session as a Greek MEP, a prison spokesperson said. Read more.

• EU: Agriculture and Fisheries Council convenes to discuss work programme of the Hungarian presidency, trade, viability of rural areas, and more;
• Eurogroup expected to concentrate on euro area fiscal stance, functioning of exchange rate mechanism, competitiveness, and more;
• Informal meeting of energy ministers takes place in Budapest, Hungary, with main focus on decarbonisation, geothermal energy, implementation of 2030 energy policy framework, national energy and climate plans;
• EU-Jordan Association Council holds 15th meeting on bilateral relations, implementation of Association Agreement and the EU-Jordan new Partnership Priorities, international issues, and more;
• Commission Vice President Maroš Šefčovič hosts Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs Espen Barth Eide, for first EU-Norway high level dialogue on Fisheries and Ocean Governance; Meets with Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office (Minister for the Constitution and EU Relations) of the UK Nick Thomas-Symonds;
• Crisis Management Commissioner Janez Lenarčič hosts UAE Special Envoy to the EU Lana Nusseibeh;

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[Edited by Sarantis Michalopoulos, Daniel Eck, Alice Taylor]