Ursula von der Leyen and her team lineup surprised in Strasbourg. Support for the new EU Commission proved stronger than expected and next week she can start calling herself President.
"Soon it's time to start fulfilling the promises"You could say that she promised herself here and soon it was time to start delivering on her promises. For example, page 20 of her program states that she wants to give the European Parliament more power. This will make the 751 elected politicians forget.
Today, only the Commission is allowed to light the matches. Only the Commission can hatch ideas that may eventually become new laws in the Union. But over the next few years it will be pushed to share the matchbox. This would mean perhaps the biggest conquest for the European Parliament since it was granted veto power over the EU budget.
"The introduction of 'tie day' should not be talked about"But between the lines, Von der Leyen writes that the matches should not be used for anything. There must be reasonable proposals, ie proposals that benefit from the EU legislating instead of the countries themselves. There is no mention of any introduction of the "tie day" or other silly suggestions from Parliament. However democratic it may be.