Von der Leyen’s U-turn: from Meloni to the Greens

Good morning from Brussels,

The political balances that emerged after the EU elections have changed Ursula von der Leyen’s initial plan to seek support for her reelection from the right, and she is now turning to the Greens to find a safe majority, but trust remains a thorny issue.

Theoretically, the pro-EU coalition (EPP, S&D, Renew) could get her elected, but a potential loss of votes due to the secret ballot means von der Leyen is seeking back-up elsewhere.

If von der Leyen looks to the hard-right ECR, she will lose the necessary socialist votes. She has, therefore, turned to the Greens.

But politically, Euractiv has learnt there is mutual mistrust.

On a policy level, the Greens want safeguards regarding the Green Deal.

Before the EU elections, von der Leyen’s EPP wanted a “more pragmatic” approach to green policies. Some in the EPP see “no harm” in approaching the Greens, while others disagree.

EPP’s Herbert Dorfmann told Euractiv on Tuesday that von der Leyen should not seek the support of the Greens to avoid the “green” mistakes of the past.

Now, the EU socialists are also mounting pressure on the Green Deal.

Read the whole story here.

The ban on internal combustion engines for new cars from 2035 is a “key demand” of the EU’s social democrats for the next European Commission, according to their official document of ‘key demands’, as seen by Euractiv.

EU member states are considering boycotting informal ministerial meetings organised by the Hungarian presidency in reaction to Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán trips to China and Russia.

At the Competitiveness Council in Budapest, just seven ministers showed up.

“The discussion about a boycott of informal council meetings in Hungary is gaining a lot of traction. The low turnout at the Competitiveness Council was probably the beginning”, an EU diplomat told Euractiv’s Thomas Moller-Nielsen.

Meanwhile, Hungary’s Economy Minister Márton Nagy said tariffs on China-made electric vehicles could boost Chinese carmakers’ efforts to localise production in the EU.
Last but not least, the pro-EU forces want to block Orbán's ‘Patriots’ group in the EU Parliament as well as ECR from the LIBE committee.

NATO leaders’ new defence plans, requiring record-high military spending, will face scrutiny when they meet on Wednesday to discuss ways to ramp up the alliance’s defence capabilities. Reporting from Washington, Alexandra Brzozowski and Aurélie Pugnet have the story.

In addition, NATO leaders have pledged more advanced air defence capabilities and more F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine to counter Russia’s intensified missile strikes on the country. Read the whole story.

BERLIN

German senior ministers torpedo compulsory military service plans. German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD/S&D) could be forced to water down a new conscription model to be introduced in 2025 after senior ministers from the junior coalition partner FDP said they would not support compulsory elements. Read more.

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PARIS

In Europe as in France, Le Pen’s party still trapped behind ‘cordon sanitaire’. The president of the far-right Rassemblement National (RN), Jordan Bardella, already saw himself as France’s new prime minister last week but was instead elected to lead the Patriots for Europe group in the European Parliament, remaining for the time being trapped behind a watertight cordon sanitaire. Read more.

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VIENNA

Austria’s Gewessler launches task force to investigate Gazprom energy contract. The Austrian energy minister launched a task force of independent experts to examine the country’s long-term gas contract with Russia’s Gazprom, on Tuesday, including investigating the level of political involvement in the 2018 signing. Read more.

LONDON

UK’s Labour government puts health at the top of its agenda. The new Labour government takes office with an ambitious new approach to health, but there are questions over how these plans will be funded. Read more.

ROME

The defeat of Marine Le Pen’s Rassemblement National in the second round of the French parliamentary elections has put Italy’s hard-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in front of a dilemma: follow the “pragmatic” approach or be driven by her “identitarian relapses” as one analyst described. Read more.

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MADRID

Spanish Supreme Court shelves terrorism investigation against Puigdemont. Spain’s Supreme Court on Tuesday decided to shelve an investigation into alleged terrorism crimes against former Catalan separatist president Carles Puigdemont after a judge previously closed the case due to a procedural error. Read more.

Spain’s Court of Auditors fines far-right VOX for irregular donations. Spain’s Court of Auditors imposed on Tuesday two sanctions on the far-right VOX party, the third force in the Spanish parliament, for what it said were two serious violations of Spanish law on party financing. Read more.

PRAGUE

Russian and Chinese hackers targeted Czech cyberinfrastructure – report. Strategic Czech institutions saw four hostile intrusions or attempted intrusions into their cyber systems last year, an annual report by the National Agency for Cyber and Information Security (NÚKIB) has revealed. Read more.

SOFIA

Pro-Russian politician in Bulgaria arrested for leaking state secrets. Zlatomir Dyovlensky, a local leader of the National Russophile Movement in Plovdiv, was arrested on suspicion of leaking state secrets in yet another case involving movement, whose national leader has been on trial for espionage for Russia since 2022. Read more.

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CHISINAU

Moldova to acquire second airspace monitoring radar with help from EU funds. Moldova is expected to receive its second airspace surveillance radar in 2025 to complement its existing airspace surveillance system and improve the detection of potential threats, funded by the EU, Moldovan Defence Minister Anatolie Nosatîi announced on Tuesday. Read more.

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