Ursula von der Leyen could remain President of the EU Commission. But for that she would need the votes of the Social Democrats. Shortly before the European elections, the SPD made five demands to the future Commission – and put a stop to cooperation with right-wing radical forces.
A few days before the European elections on June 9th, the SPD is making five demands to the future EU Commission. The International Commission on the SPD federal executive committee, headed by SPD leader Lars Klingbeil, advocates, among other things, a deepening of the internal market, a shaping industrial policy, more European arms cooperation and interlinking of energy supplies. The board paper is available exclusively to ntv.de.
In the paper, the SPD also reiterates its position not to elect the incumbent Commission President Ursula von der Leyen with the votes of an anti-European party. The Christian Democrat had previously left it open whether, in the event of a narrow majority, she would also rely on the vote of the Fratelli d'Italia – the party of the right-wing radical Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. In 2019, von der Leyen was elected to office with the votes of the Conservatives, Social Democrats and Liberals.
This has never happened before:
Exclusive and at prime time The leaders of the six major German parties discuss the results of the European and local elections.
- Friedrich Merz
- Lars Klingbeil
- Omid Nouripour
- Christian Lindner
- Alice Weidel
- Sahra Wagenknecht
This unique round is moderated by ntv politics boss Nikolaus Blome.
Turn on: ntv, Sunday, June 9th, 8:15 p.m
Lessons from von der Leyen's first term in office
“A president of the European Commission who relies on the support of the enemies of democracy and the rule of law will not support European social democracy,” says the SPD paper. The SPD executive board is thus confirming a declaration by the European Social Democrats at the beginning of May, in which cooperation with the far-right factions ID and EKR was already rejected. These factions include, among others, the party of the French right-wing populist Marine Le Pen, the Spanish right-wing extremists Vox, Meloni's Fratelli d'Italia, the Polish PiS and, until its recent expulsion from the ID, the German AfD.
Meloni in particular is considered a possible partner for von der Leyen. So far, the President of the Commission has refused to rule out collaboration with the Italian. Meloni is criticized in her homeland because her government is trying to restrict press freedom and glossing over Italy's fascist past under Hitler's ally Benito Mussolini.
In addition, the SPD expects “without ifs and buts” that the upcoming commission will protect democracy and the rule of law in Europe, according to the SPD statement. In the past, SPD European top candidate Katarina Barley had repeatedly accused von der Leyen of inaction in dealing with Poland's long-standing ruling party PiS or Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's Fidesz. Both had honed the rule of law and democracy in their countries. However, the Commission was only able to bring about infringement proceedings after much hesitation. In the case of Poland, the procedure was stopped after the PiS was voted out.
SPD supports Green Deal
Von der Leyen would have to approach either one of the larger right-wing parties or the European Greens if the votes of conservatives, social democrats and liberals do not provide a sufficiently large majority. Conservatives and liberals are particularly questioning the Commission's Green Deal, i.e. the conversion of Europe to a largely CO2-free economy. The European Social Democrats and even more so the Greens insist on continuing on the path they have chosen.
In its five demands, the SPD also adheres to the goal of “Europe becoming the first climate-neutral continent in the world”. Europe could “become the leading economic area for climate technologies and renewable energies”. The German Social Democrats also want the Energy Union to be further developed: the expansion and shared use of electricity and hydrogen networks as well as electricity storage facilities should be promoted. This not only contributes to decarbonization, but also makes Europe more independent of suppliers of fossil fuels such as oil and gas and leads to lower energy prices in the long term.
A real internal market should release potential
More competitiveness is also the goal behind the SPD's call for a “Jacques Delors Plan 2.0”. The long-time EU Commission President was the architect of a series of measures to integrate and align the EU internal market at the end of the 1980s. The SPD demands that this must now be further deepened.
The Capital Markets Union has been making slow progress for years. This involves, among other things, aligning investment rules in the 27 member states so that existing capital can flow across borders in the future. Different requirements are still slowing down the flow of capital from one EU country to another. The SPD also calls for an investment strategy and better competition policy for future industries; less bureaucracy and simplified immigration law for skilled workers are needed.
The demand paper largely corresponds to the speech that Klingbeil gave in October at the zoo conference of the SPD-affiliated Friedrich Ebert Foundation. In it, the party leader also discussed the necessary public investments to decarbonize and modernize Europe's economy. “To finance the transformation, I am also prepared to lead the discussion about European revenues and shared debts,” Klingbeil said at the time.
The EU's own sources of revenue or shared debts are not among the five demands on the Commission. The NextGenEU package set up after the pandemic contained a 723 billion euro fund, half of which was filled with debts taken out jointly for the first time. The funds are available up to and including 2026, also because only a third of the sum has been paid out to the member states so far.
Defend together, arm together
The fifth SPD topic, alongside competitiveness, climate neutrality, energy union and defense of democracy, is the demand to “advance Europe’s security union”. The EU states should therefore procure more military equipment together, research and develop them together and pay more attention to ensuring that different weapon systems can be used together. The SPD also wants to see the European arms industry strengthened.
The SPD proposals for the defense union largely correspond to the ideas presented by French President Emmanuel Macron and Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz last week. Both also spoke out in favor of the introduction of majority decisions in the areas of foreign and fiscal policy, as the SPD is also demanding from the Commission. So far, the principle of unanimity has applied in these areas, which gives notorious obstructors like Orbán a lot of negotiating power.
The European Social Democrats are the second largest group in the European Parliament with 139 out of 751 members. In the Social Democratic group, the SPD, with 16 representatives, is the second largest country group behind the Spanish Socialists.
