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Updated on December 1, 2020 11:19 am
- The President of the EU Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the President of the EU Council, Charles Michel, have been in office on Tuesday for a year.
- Our experts agree: They have found considerable answers to the Corona crisis.
- However, the important immigration policy has taken a back seat.
His first year in office was anything but a routine year for the EUPresident of the Commission Ursula von der Leyen Y Charles Michel, President of the Council of the EU: “The crisis of the crown is the greatest crisis that has existed since the beginning of European integration,” he underlines Werner Weidenfeld, Professor of Political Systems and European Unification at the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich. “Von der Leyen and Michel have found answers in this dramatic situation. So far, they have handled it well.” After all, these are gigantic sums they want to contribute: EU countries have that this year the largest budget and financial package his story decided. Around € 1 trillion will go to the seven-year budget framework and € 750 billion to that NextGenerationEU investment program, to the Consequences of the crown crisis cushion.
Von der Leyen has acted quite skillfully in the pandemic, he also thinks EU budget expert Dr Peter Becker from the Science and Policy Foundation (SWP). “She used the budget negotiations that were already underway to respond appropriately to the main foreseeable consequences of the Corona crisis.” In close cooperation with Michel, he was able to launch the Corona aid program quickly and efficiently.
Von der Leyen also works very well with the two largest member states, France and Germany, praises Becker and recalls: Der French Head of State Emmanuel Macron I had initially opted for calls Coronabonds, common European government bonds, pronounced while Chancellor Angela Merkel he vehemently rejected this possibility. The Commission and the Council mediated, Paris and Berlin agreed on the NextGenerationEU investment program. The community guarantees the debt, not the individual member states, as would have been the case with crown bonds. “It seemed to me that von der Leyen and Michel were the link between Germany and France in this important decision,” Becker said.
EU budget: Poland and Hungary cause trouble
Currently, however, there is a problem in the area of responsibility of the Belgian Charles Michel: Hungary and Poland block the passage of the financial package. You want to avoid EU payments Rule of law They are linked. Is the incumbent president not acting sufficiently? “Von der Leyen and Michel bring with them different talents that are also required for these different positions,” says Weidenfeld. While von der Leyen leads the commission “to a considerable extent”, Michel has to coordinate more closely. “If he leans too far out the window on an issue, he doesn’t like it: states have to find a consensus under his leadership.”
Read also: How Viktor Orban tries to blackmail Ursula von der Leyen
The Munich political scientist assesses positively the speed with which the EU is acting under von der Leyen in the pandemic: “Im Health care so far the union of states had hardly any powers. But the initiative was quickly taken to address the problem internationally. “In early April, the Commission published guidelines on how to do more. Patient be treated across borders and health workers from countries that have the capacity to go where help is urgently needed. Also known as that soon first Vaccines for coronavirus The Commission was quick to negotiate contracts. In this way, it is ensured that large deliveries are distributed among the Member States.
Mixed feelings about the Green Deal
Ursula von der Leyen caused a stir in late 2019 when she set her climate goals, the Green deal, entered. “In the next ten years he wants to change the economy,” says Peter Becker. “The new goal is no longer just growth, but sustainable growth.” That’s a big step, even if a lot of detailed questions still need to be clarified. “There is a lot of money in the budgets to really change the structures,” says the EU expert. Von der Leyen is particularly skilled at this. Transitionsfonds, with what are coal countries such as Poland, Bulgaria or Romania energy transition wants to support. This is the only way to cushion your worries and take these states with you.
Weidenfeld is more cautious about the Green Deal: “Public pressure on the issue Climate protection is great, von der Leyen had to position himself there. But now we have to wait and see what happens. “
Faded into the background: immigration policy
Because when it comes to long-term strategies, the EU expert sees them great weakness of the international community. That has been the case for a long time, and von der Leyen and Michel haven’t changed a thing so far.
An example is the migration and integration policy, which, five years after the great refugee movement, took a back seat due to the crisis in the Crown. Furthermore, von der Leyen, Michel and the EU have Fire in the Moria refugee camp, Greece Weidenfeld stressed that he “cut a bad number” in early September. Under his leadership, there are “dramatic inhumanities” within the EU.
“Even if we talk about it less often because of Corona: the fundamental problem remains, because here too the association of states lacks strategy,” says Weidenfeld. “What are the causes? How can we combat them? How do people get here and how are they selected?” The scientist also sees a lot of work ahead of the two politicians in foreign and security policy: “The EU needs more global political responsibility drink.”
Harsh criticism from his own party
Also in European Parliament is there Criticism of Ursula von der Leyen. MEPs are particularly skeptical about the Green Deal because after the strong announcement, the concrete implementation is still pending. The harsh words even come from our own ranks: CDU MEP Dennis Radtke about her he criticized in October in a guest article in the “Welt”. Taken seriously, it “made little contribution to improving the difficult initial situation” and “rarely lived up to its own claim to leadership.” He accuses her of “concise and / or pathetic headlines on the outside, miscommunication and mistrust on the inside” – “adorned with a complete ignorance of the soul of her own in-laws.”
Weidenfeld: “Merkel is clearly bigger”
Does Ursula von der Leyen still have what it takes to become the new strong politician in Europe after Angela Merkel? Von der Leyen has great political success and ambition, says Weidenfeld. “But Angela Merkel is much bigger.”
If the teacher had to give grades in school today, he would give Ursula von der Leyen and Charles Michel a “two down” for their achievements to date after a year in extremely difficult conditions.
About the experts:
Fonts used:
- Conversation with Dr. Peter Becker
- Conversation with Professor Werner Weidenfeld
- European Commission press release: Coronavirus: Commission promotes and facilitates cross-border treatment of patients and cross-border dispatch of medical personnel
- Welt.de, guest post by Dennis Radtke: If Europe is to change, von der Leyen has to change
“No one intends to build a wall!” GDR Head of State Walter Ulbricht said this phrase at a press conference in 1961. The Berlin Wall was built only about two months later. What historical phrases continue to shape the country?
