The Socialist Group leader in the European Parliament, Iratxe Garcia, does not want to say prematurely about the German CDU politician, Ursula von der Leyen, who has been nominated for the EU Commission Presidency. Although it is not exactly a good letter of recommendation that is supported by the Leyens nominated by the Visegrad states Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic and Slovakia, said Garcia.
However, she emphasized to the „Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung“: „We will not judge the person before we have listened to her.“ Von der Leyen was nominated by the EU heads of state and government on Tuesday as Commission President. The German Chancellor Angela Merkel had to abstain in Brussels, because the SPD did not want to support the proposal.
Von der Leyen has to be elected in the European Parliament, but there is a majority but uncertain. The heads of state and government overruled the requirement for a majority in the European Parliament to elect only one of the top candidates for the European elections as head of the commission, ie CSU vice-chairman Manfred Weber of the European People’s Party or the Social Democrat Frans Timmermans. The Socialist Group is the second largest in the new European Parliament with 154 members.
