Press release: Ursula von der Leyen voted Commission President for next 5 years 

Today, Members of the European Parliament voted in favour of Ursula von der Leyen to continue her role as Commission President for the next five years. 

Following a secret ballot von der Leyen received 401 votes in favour, 284 against, 15 abstentions.  

This vote not only means the continuation of von der Leyen’s Presidency, but also the continuation of the Green Deal. But while the Green Deal of 2019 focused on addressing the nature and climate  crises, the 2024 version appears to be much more targeted on industry competitiveness and investments in clean technologies to achieve climate neutrality.   

So what does this mean for the green agenda in the EU for the next five years? BirdLife Europe’s first analysis of von der Leyen’s Political Guidelines for the next five years, which was released today, sees a repeated reference toward supporting European businesses and promoting EU competitiveness. Von der Leyen wants to achieve that through the designation of a Vice-President for Implementation, Simplification and Interinstitutional Relations, in order “to stress-test the entire EU acquis”. If simplification results in lowering environmental standards and backtracking on democratically agreed objectives, it will spell disaster for nature and climate, and for the future of Europeans. Science unequivocally points towards the urgent need to accelerate the ecological transition and combat biodiversity collapse and climate change.  Simplification to rules and standards is not the answer. The simplification agenda should not be used as a Trojan Horse to weaken environmental legislation to the benefit of a few, and backtrack years of work and investments. The Commission’s own studies show that investing in the care of our natural world pays huge dividends. This is why, the EU must fully support and better monitor the implementation of laws, and ensure it delivers the transformational change needed to overcome the biodiversity and climate crises. Through effective implementation, will the EU  have real, measurable impact on the ground. 

Anouk Puymartin, Policy Manager, BirdLife Europe:  
“In her bid to secure the presidency, Von der Leyen has made vague promises to all political groups in the EU Parliament. While she pledges to continue the Green Deal, her focus on EU competitiveness and plans for “simplification” risk opening the door to those who seek to profit from the crisis rather than solve it. The devil is in the details, and we need a stronger commitment from the Commission on proper implementation of environmental laws and funding to actually reverse the biodiversity collapse. Science and nature must be at the center of the EU’s strategy to tackle the climate crises, otherwise, the only thing the EU will be competing in, is in the race to our doom.” 

Civil society has a strong role to play in the continuation of the Green Deal, and as some EU countries are clamping down on civil society, either through restricting their funding, or simply shutting them down, von der Leyen has stated that civil society must be “better protected in its work”. Von der Leyen insisted on the need to work with all democratic forces and stakeholders to deliver for nature and people. This will be key to developing and giving credibility to the initiatives that will be proposed in the next mandate in the areas of agriculture and food, oceans, water resilience and climate adaptation. We need all hands on deck, work constructively all together, listen to science and collectively build solutions to ensure a resilient future for us all.   

picture by the European Parliament