As MEPs vote to approve the upcoming European Commission, a significant proportion of those opposing von der Leyen’s executive picks are French MEPs.
At least 57 of the 81 French MEPs are likely to vote against Ursula von der Leyen’s new European Commissioners, including 13 from the Socialist group, according to an Euronews investigation.
Why are so many French politicians opposing von der Leyen and her new Commission? We spoke to several French MEPs after they left the Strasbourg hemicycle on Tuesday.
Socialist and Green MEPs—some of whom had supported von der Leyen in July—explained they would boycott her 26 new commissioners to avoid legitimising a coalition with the far-right. They particularly criticised her appointment of Rafaelle Fitto, a member of Italy’s far-right Fratelli d’Italia, as one of the Commission’s Executive Vice Presidents, accusing him of belonging to a party with fascist roots.
On the opposite side of the spectrum, French far-right MEPs also made it clear they would reject von der Leyen’s team, along with her programme. Does France’s boycott of today’s vote reflect the country’s deepening political divide?
In the second segment of this podcast, we had a quick overview of the European Parliament vote of 2025 annual budget.
In the last part of the show, Radio Schuman explores why bicycles production dropped in the EU.
Radio Schuman is hosted and produced by Maïa de la Baume, with journalist and production assistant Eleonora Vasques, audio editing by Zacharia Vigneron and Georgios Leivaditis. Music by Alexandre Jas.
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