French conservatives blast von der Leyen's 'technocratic drift,' oppose re-election bid

euronews (in English)

Ahead of the congress of the European People's Party (EPP), the French delegation has come strongly against the re-election bid of Ursula von der Leyen, denouncing her as "the candidate of Mr Macron and not the right."

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00:00 Europe's biggest political party, the European People's Party, started its pre-election congress

00:07 in Bucharest. There they will confirm Ursula von der Leyen as the centre-right candidate

00:14 for the EU elections. The Secretary General of the party, Vanassis Bocelus, told Euronews

00:23 Romania that they are confident. We have one candidate for this position, it is the sitting

00:30 president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, a person with a record, a person

00:38 whose commitment to Europe is unquestionable. And so on Thursday there will be a vote according

00:49 to our procedures and processes and we are very much looking forward for Ms von der Leyen

00:56 to be our lead candidate for the European elections and of course we look forward to

01:03 her second term in office. The EPP was criticised lately for turning its back on the EU's Green

01:10 Deal, a climate policy initiated by the von der Leyen Commission. In light of recent protests,

01:17 the EPP is also positioning themselves as a pro-farmer party, partially giving in to

01:22 their demands in watering down green requirements. You've got to listen to people, that's exactly

01:28 what we're doing. We got a lot of heat and a lot of pushback when we listened to farmers,

01:35 when they were asking society as a whole and us as the EPP to listen to their needs because

01:46 you know farmers are the custodians of the land, they care about the land. Despite her

01:53 assured victory in the Congress, Ursula von der Leyen will face some internal opposition,

02:02 mainly from French Republicans, who accuse her of embodying a technocratic drift and

02:08 letting the European majority move to the left.

02:15 (whooshing)

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