German Chancellor Olaf Scholz weighed in on the European election campaign on Friday, warning that the next president of the European Commission should not seek support from far-right parties hoping to make big gains in next month's elections.
Left-wing parties across Europe have been putting pressure on their conservative and liberal counterparts to rule out cooperation with far-right parties after the June 6-9 European Parliament elections.
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But a big shift to the right could make it difficult for the commission's next president (who will need the approval of a majority in the new pan-European parliament) to effectively lead the bloc of 27 with only the support of its most traditional political parties. groupings.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, right, shakes hands with Portuguese Prime Minister Luís Montenegro during a joint press conference after talks at the Federal Chancellery in Berlin, Friday, May 24, 2024. (Christoph Soeder/dpa via AP)
“When the next European Commission is formed, it should not depend on the support of a parliamentary majority that also needs the support of right-wing extremists,” Scholz said after meeting his Portuguese counterpart Luis Montenegro in Berlin.
“I am very saddened by the ambiguity of some of the political statements we have heard recently. But I am clear and it will only be possible to establish a presidency of the European Commission that is based on the support of the traditional parties,” Scholz said.
“Anything else would be a mistake for the future of Europe,” he added.
Scholz, a social democrat who heads an unpopular progressive coalition in Germany, did not specify what statements he was referring to.
However, his words are likely to be seen as a warning to the current Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, a German conservative who is expected to seek a second term.
Von der Leyen is a member of the European People's Party group in the European Parliament. The centre-right umbrella group has long dominated in Brussels alongside the centre-left socialists. But with the electoral landscape changing, she has refused to rule out working with some members of parties further to the right.
Last month, von der Leyen suggested she was willing to work with the European Conservatives and Reformists, or ECR, one of two far-right groups in parliament.
Leading members of the ECR, which largely opposes further integration and enlargement of the European Union and takes a hard line against immigration and environmental protection policies, include Poland's Law and Justice party and Italy's Brothers party. of the Italian Prime Minister, Georgia Meloni.
Pressed to distance herself from the far right during a debate between the main candidates last month in the Netherlands, von der Leyen said possible scenarios would depend on “what the composition of parliament is like and who is in which group.”
With less than two weeks until the election, the political alliances that could shape the future direction of EU policy are already shifting.
On Thursday, a right-wing group in the European Parliament expelled the far-right Alternative for Germany, or AfD, party over a series of scandals involving its leading candidate, including comments seen as minimizing Nazi crimes in World War II. World Cup and the arrest of one of his assistants on suspicion of espionage for China.
On Friday, one of its nine European lawmakers, Sylvia Limmer, resigned from the AfD, saying its leadership had become too authoritarian.
Scholz, whose party trails both the AfD and its center-right rivals in opinion polls, said the rise of the far right reflected the uncertainty caused by rapid economic changes, new technologies and climate change.
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He argued that developed countries could counter the political trend by adopting a modernizing and inclusive agenda.
“What helps are two things: the first is the confidence that the future will be good, also for our countries, in which we are at the forefront; and the confidence that this is not only for a few in our countries, but for the great mass”. of the population,” she stated.
