Ursula von der Layen. For Russia, nowhere worse?
Last Wednesday, the European Parliament by an overwhelming majority of votes (461 MEP voted “yes”, 157 “against” and 89 people abstained) approved the new composition of the European Commission, chaired by the former Minister of Defense of Germany Ursula von der Leyen. Since December 1 (a month late), the EU government has fully embarked on its duties.
Bureaucratic games around key EU posts
This delay was caused by the fact that earlier (in September) the European Parliament rejected three candidates proposed by von der Leyen for the posts of European Commissioners - Laszlo Trocany (Hungary), Rovan Plamb (Romania) and Silvi Gular (France). At Trochana and Plumb, deputies revealed a conflict of financial interests. Gular was accused of "using her assistant from the European Parliament for political work in her country, as well as her collaboration with an analytical center in the United States."
In the case of Sylvie Goulard, the media wrote that the MPs took revenge on French President Emanuel Macron for his refusal to support the nomination of the European Commission’s head Manfred Weber, the leader of the largest European Parliamentary faction (265 members).
As a result of Macron’s demarche, the leaders of the European Union countries only, on the third attempt, agreed on the candidacy of the Minister of Defense of Germany, Ursula von der Leyen, which they considered a compromise. At the same time, we distributed key EU posts among representatives of its leading states.
The Council of the European Union identified the Frenchwoman Christine Lagarde as the director of the European Central Bank, the Belgian Charles Michel got the post of chairman of the European Council, the Spaniard Josep Borrell - High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.
Bureaucratic games around the appointment of the head of the European Commission did not pass by the attention of the deputies. They recouped on von der Leyen already at its approval in the European Parliament. The German candidacy then passed, as they say, "on a thin one." 383 of the deputy voted for it, against - 327, 22 - abstained.
The second “act of revenge” was the approval of the European Commission's personal composition and program of action proposed by Ursula von der Leyen. The deputies immediately rejected three candidatures of European Commissioners. So, from November 1 (as stipulated by EU guidelines), the European Commission was not able to start its work. Hungary, Romania and France had to nominate new candidates for the European Commission. And the European Parliament took extra time to agree on the proposed candidates, their detailed study in their committees. Now the process is complete. Ursula von der Leyen, together with a team of European Commissioners approved on Wednesday, began work.
From America with love ...
The person of the new President of the European Commission strained Russian politicians immediately after her nomination by the European Council. After nominating von der Leyen for the EU’s highest position, Deputy Director of the Institute of Europe of the Russian Academy of Sciences Vladislav Belov said in an interview with Kommersant newspaper:
The fact is that Ursula von der Leyen spent the nineties of the last century in the United States, where at that time her husband, cardiologist professor Heiko von der Leyen, taught at Stanford University. Citing this circumstance, the German political scientist Alexander Rar came to the conclusion:
It should be noted that upon returning from America, von der Leyen dramatically changed her life. The venerable mother of a large family (she has seven children), who worked at the Hannover Medical School, unexpectedly went into politics for many, connecting her subsequent life with the Christian Democratic Union.
This choice was very successful. Angela Merkel, who came to power, took von der Leyen (herself or at someone’s prompt?) From Hanover to the high ministerial post in the German federal government. Since then, she has not left the cabinet, and in 2013, she headed the military department.
At the new post, von der Leyen's pro-American orientation was fully manifested. With her, the Bundeswehr reached the Russian border, placing his units in the Baltic. The German minister supported all American initiatives to strengthen NATO and “contain” Russia.
At the same time, von der Leyen did not deny herself the pleasure of publicly criticizing the Russian authorities and especially President Vladimir Putin for "aggressive foreign policy in Europe." Sometimes her statements came into conflict even with Germany’s foreign policy position.
This was the case, for example, when von der Leyen, without any doubt following the United States, accused Russia of violating the Treaty on intermediate and shorter-range missiles, and then did not rule out a new deployment of American missiles in Europe. Although German Foreign Minister Heiko Mas opposed this scenario.
Other examples may be given. Just recall Ursula von der Leyen’s speech at the Munich Security Conference this February, where she essentially articulated an American view of attitudes toward Russia and European security.
Von der Leyen did all this not only because of her duties in the post. That is her political position. Once again, the experts were convinced of this by listening to the new head of the European Commission during her speech in November at the Konrad Adenauer Foundation in Berlin. In his speech, von der Leyen called on the EU to “build muscle” in security policy and, above all, in relation to Russia.
Anti-Russian Pool
It is noteworthy that von der Leyen picked up the appropriate team. The Italian Federica Mogherini was replaced on the foreign policy field of the European Commission by the former Foreign Minister of Spain, Josep Borrell. He became famous for calling Russia the "old enemy" of the European Union. Borrel did not refuse his words during the hearings when he was approved in the European Parliament.
There he even developed his theory of how to restrain the “old enemy”. “The best way to counter Russian expansionism or, if you wish, the Russian threat is to help Ukraine, increase its resilience and ability to carry out reforms,” Borrel told the deputies. At the same time, he promised "to increase funding for a working group in the EU that is engaged in countering external disinformation, in particular, from the territory of the Russian Federation." And, of course, the new EU Commissioner for Foreign Affairs has advocated maintaining sanctions against Russia.
To match Borrell - Commissioner for Energy, Estonian Kadri Simson. Recently, the Poles and the Baltic states have been somewhat pushed back from the hot topic of Russian gas supplies to Europe. Now their representative has occupied a key position here. Simson already noted in a statement: "It is very important that in the context of gas we take seriously the aspect of solidarity." That is, they fully took into account the position of those who oppose gas pipelines from Russia.
How this will affect the ongoing tripartite negotiations (Russia - Ukraine - EU) on gas transit is not yet clear. At one time, the Deputy Chairman of the European Commission for the Energy Union Marosh Shefchovich closed negotiations with Russia and excluded Miguel Arias Cañete, Energy Commissioner.
Now Shefchovich’s competence has changed. He is now responsible for cross-institutional issues and forecasting. However, the German DW believes that "many tasks in the new European Commission have not yet been distributed, and it is possible that Shefchovich himself wants to complete the negotiations that he has been conducting for a year and a half."
This alignment of forces in the new European Commission has already caused some concern among European politicians. TASS writes that on Friday during a farewell ceremony at the European Commission, journalists asked the retiring ex-EC head Jean-Claude Juncker what he wished for his successor. Junker replied:
There are many hidden meanings in this wish. We can recall the emerging split in Europe, the deepening migration crisis, the incomplete exit from the European Union of Great Britain, the growing trade conflict with America, etc. Full cooperation with Russia is no less important for the future of Europe.
French President Macron, who is claiming political leadership in Europe, is increasingly leaning toward him. Understanding this, Alexander Rahr believes that in the coming years, Ursula von der Leyen will not become an independent figure, but will absolutely depend on Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel.
The forecast of Alexander Rahr suggests a predictable policy of the new European Commission. How much it coincides with real practice, we will see in the near future.
- Gennady Granovsky
- Euronews (video frame, youtube.com)
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