The European Commission president is running for re-election. Yet a political cronyism scandal is dogging her path, says Paul Taylor of the Friends of Europe thinktank
without facing Europe’s voters. Now she is running for re-election almost without campaigning. The former German defence minister, 65, wason 6-9 June, although she does not plan to take a seat in the EU legislature. Since then, she has shunned media questioning as far as possible, and is refusing to commit to debating the other candidates in public.
As political scandals or banana skins go, “Piepergate” ranks as a pretty small tremor on the Richter scale. Media attempts to skewer von der Leyen overwith the CEO of pharma giant Pfizer at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, as the EU scrambled to procure huge quantities of vaccines, have stumbled over her failure to disclose the contents.
The cynical, no-brainer campaign strategy is to max out on the advantages of incumbency and ignore your rivals rather than giving them the boost of debating with the boss. Why show up to be attacked by angry Eurosceptics, pesky greens or bolshie leftists before small television and online audiences when you can rack up photo opportunities discussing Iran’s missile attack on Israel“She’s a good debater but frankly, why take the risk?” an EPP insider said.
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