Six months after the European elections, the new Commission will finally take office in Brussels. The European Parliament is to invest on Wednesday, which will allow its president Ursula von der Leyen and its 26 commissioners, including the French Thierry Breton, to get to work after a chaotic start.
The first woman president of the European Commission did not have a state of grace. Since her appointment, Ursula von der Leyen has had to go through a real "cross-way": a validation of extreme accuracy this summer, three candidates commissioners criticized by the Parliament, a particularly fragile political majority with, even in his own camp, the conservatives, criticism of it. Judged too German, the former Defense Minister Angela Merkel would trust only two employees brought from Berlin in his luggage.
"She must make a tour of European capitals"
While Ursula von der Leyen has had a small studio set up next to his office to save time, some already blame him for wanting to lock himself on the 13th floor of the Commission. In short, the elected president still has work to win the hearts, recognizes the elected Macronist Stéphane Séjourné. "She has to make a tour of the European capitals, she has to do the press, go to the microphones to explain what she's doing and speak directly to European public opinion," she said. he. "It's a bit like the Commission of all issues, we will have to prove that we have our place, with the Parliament, in the daily lives of people."
Ursula von der Leyen and her commissioners are expected to win the final vote on Wednesday. But soon, it will be necessary to find political majorities on the great European texts: the future pact for the climate, for example. Ursula von der Leyen officially takes office on Sunday, the hardest is in front of her.