ECR will not give von der Leyen “blank cheque” ahead of elections, says Czech MEP

European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) do not intend to promise support for Ursula von der Leyen to continue as head of the European Commission, Czech MEP Alexandr Vondra told Euractiv Czechia in an exclusive interview.

As for deciding the direction of the future European Commission and its composition, according to Vondra (ODS, ECR) it is necessary to wait for the outcome of the elections.

However, as the elections approaches, he sees von der Leyen shifting towards more right-wing positions.

“As for Ursula von der Leyen, she is a candidate of the European People’s Party (EPP). We in the ECR have not yet given her any blank cheque in this sense and we are in no way planning to do so before the (EU) elections,” Vondra said.

Von der Leyen must first get the support of the leaders of the member states and then pass the approval of the European Parliament, which will be a difficult task. In a bid to succeed, von der Leyen does not rule out cooperation with parties to the right of the EPP.

“We (in ECR) perceive that she is adapting her policies a little bit to the new situation. Suddenly there is the Antwerp declaration in favour of industry, suddenly there are these phrases about how we cannot ignore the needs of industry, the economy and so on. I welcome that of course,” Vondra said, adding that “trust, but verify” approach is needed towards von der Leyen.

“Our entire group will certainly wait until after the elections to see what the new composition of the parliament will be,” he added.

According to Vondra, the Commission needs to be changed to be less revolutionary, less bureaucratic and less ideological. In his opinion, the problematic person has not been von der Leyen, but others – for example, former EU Commissioner Frans Timmermans, responsible for the Green Deal, who left the Commission because of his ambitions in Dutch politics.

Europe Elects projections suggests that ECR will emerge stronger from the upcoming elections and could even compete for the position of the third largest group in the EP.

The group could also grow with new members – recently, a representative of the Reconquête! party of French far-right leader Éric Zemmour have joined the ECR and Viktor Orbán’s ruling party Fidesz is also talking about its interest in joining the ECR.

For Vondra, however, the enlargement of the ECR has clear boundaries – the position of parties to the Russian aggression against Ukraine.

“If someone simply parrots Putin’s propaganda, he has no business being here (in ECR). I have told Fidesz this and no negotiations with them can take place now because of this,” Vondra explained.

He also pointed out that ECR “grilled” Reconquête! Party representatives on the same issues.

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