Ursula von der Leyen wins second term as European Commission president

Von der Leyen has pushed for compromise deals across the political spectrum in her bid for reelection, aiming to appease a growing center-right presence in the European Parliament after last month’s vote, the Financial Times noted. In a pre-voting speech, she renewed her commitment to carbon neutrality, but framed the climate focus as a matter of competitiveness in a nod to right-wing parties, Euractiv noted, and promised support to farmers who have previously protested against EU environmental rules. Still, her approach could backfire: She “has been spreading herself too thinly, promising something to everyone but not fully satisfying anyone,” an EU law professor wrote in The Guardian.

The day before the vote, a court reprimanded the European Commission for concealing the details of COVID-19 vaccine contracts, dealing what Politico called a “blow” to von der Leyen’s campaign — but the ruling didn’t prevent her from winning reelection. The lack of transparency around contracts, however, generated discontent, especially as Von der Leyen had earlier trumpeted her pandemic response as testament to her professionalism and technocratic credentials. The Greens in particular likely faced “a dilemma,” Euronews added, as the party had requested to view the vaccine contracts in 2021 and brought the Commission to court when it only released heavily redacted versions.