Macron went to war with Ursula von der Leyen, by Dmitry Bavyrin for VZGLYAD. 04.25.2024.
There is another split among Russia’s opponents in the West, this time in a very real way. Those who do not want to allow Ursula von der Leyen to serve a second term as head of the EC were joined by French President Emmanuel Macron and immediately rushed into battle, calling for thinking about “good neighbourly relations with Russia.” Whose will he take? So what about Russia?
The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, will undoubtedly go down in European history as a tough functionary who successfully suppressed attempts at an anti-American riot and ensured the supply of weapons to Ukraine.
Despite the controversial reputation she received as Germany's defense minister and numerous doubts about her political competence as a gynecologist, Ursula time and again beat her opponents (also not the last people on the continent) and proved to the President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky: she is the one someone he can always count on.
US President Joe Biden is less effective in this matter; for example, for six months he had to butt heads with Congress over a tranche for Kiev . If not for the support of the European Union, the Zelensky regime might not have survived until spring.
Now Ursula herself, as Chairman of the European Commission, risks not surviving until next spring. She understood that she was by no means guaranteed a second term, so she tried to move to the chair of NATO Secretary General, and when this number did not work out, she focused on maintaining her current post. There are chances for this, but strong and conflict-ridden politicians always have many enemies. Von der Leyen has a particularly large number of them – and they are only getting more numerous.
Now these are not only Eurosceptics like the prime ministers of Hungary and Slovakia Viktor Orbán and Robert Fico, although Orbán is the one who led the front of the open struggle against Ursula. These are the leaders of the largest countries in Western Europe.
Among them is German Chancellor Olaf Scholff, which may seem strange, since Ursula herself is from Germany. But for Scholz, she is first and foremost a representative of the main opposition party and part of Angela Merkel's legacy, which he would prefer to get rid of.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, although she supports Ursula on issues of the conflict around Ukraine, is in solidarity with Orban on issues of the rights of national governments, and the relationship between them is described as almost friendly.
Now French President Emmanuel Macron has also spoken out against Ursula. Publicly, without getting personal, but behind closed doors, as Bloomberg claims, citing “ informed sources ,” he is pushing former Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi to the post of head of the EC, trying to enlist the support of the same Meloni.
Draghi, who once headed the EU Central Bank and then a technocratic government as a compromise figure between Eurosceptics and Eurooptimists, really looks like a person who is able to reduce conflict within the European Union: for some time he even succeeded in doing this with the Italians.
“The Presidency of the European Commission is designed to protect common interests, so it should not be overly politicized,” Macron criticizes Ursula.
Von der Leyen has indeed turned her formerly technical post into a political one, becoming the most influential head of the EC in its entire history. She herself believes that this is a big plus. Americans, whose interests von der Leyen always takes into account, too. But Macron is now against it.
Knowing Macron, the most obvious explanation for what is happening is that he is jealous. He himself wants to be the most influential in Europe and build US relations on behalf of the European Union as the president of its last superpower.
In his new and “programmatic” (as they emphasize in the Elysee Palace) speech on the topic of foreign affairs, he even recalled that France has nuclear weapons, which, it turns out, are the guarantor of the security of Europe and building relations with Russia. This is a kind of attack on Washington and Berlin, where they believe that the guarantor of European security is the US nuclear weapons located in Germany.
However, this time Scholz supported Macron, who called on Europe to prove that it is not a “vassal” of the United States, and not to rely solely on America’s protection in the future. According to the French president, the EU should strengthen its sovereignty by creating its own military academy and developing the defense industry, and subsequently “establish good neighborly relations with Russia.”
That is, he understands that the gap between Europe and Russia is primarily beneficial to the United States. According to Bloomberg, he even understands that von der Leyen greatly aggravated this dependence. And Macron’s bid for “good neighborly relations” in the future is like an attempt to break the political trend of the West, according to which our cold war with him will last a very long time.
But there is a defining nuance: in terms of goals for the medium term, both Macron and Ursula are united. The Frenchman, who just yesterday proposed sending NATO troops to Ukraine, again came forward, but did not change himself: for “good neighborly relations” Russia must lose – and that’s it.
“The main condition for our security is that Russia does not win,” Macron snapped.
Thus, for Russia itself, Macron’s statements do not change anything. He tries to be more constructive than Ursula, but on the main issue of our relationship he is no different from her. Only about Ursula it is known that Washington asked her to do this, and Macron pretends to act as he wants.
Strictly speaking, for Russia there is no difference in the matter of whether Ursula will remain at the head of the European Commission or someone will come “to replace the new guy.” Yes, a lot depends on the USA, and on the presidential elections in the USA too. But to lead the EU this season there will definitely not be a “candidate who defends national values” that Orban dreams of.
Much will depend on the results of the elections to the European Parliament in early June: the appointment of the leadership of the EC is almost the only issue when something depends on this imitation of parliament. The Eurosceptics are planning to give a tough fight to the “traditional elites” - so let them give it, and let Macron, Scholz and Co. give the fight to Ursula if they so want. Moscow is purple.
But if this is a matter of dispute, then you need to bet on Ursula.
The rebellion of Western Europe against the Washington man in her person might have been successful, given how decrepit the current leader of the United States is. And Macron’s actions are truly an alarming “bell” for the head of the EC, incomparable to Orban’s escapades. But it is important to remember who is who.
Macron is someone who talks a lot and pulls the blanket over himself, but does very little . And even if he does something in terms of foreign policy projects, a fiasco always awaits him in the end , which became the curse of Paris during his presidency.
Ursula is not like that, Ursula is flint. She repeatedly put to shame those who underestimated her, putting pressure on her or overplaying her, but getting her way. According to many objective inputs, she has come to the end of her political career, but she has already approached it several times, eventually turning into that witch who does not drown in water, but does not burn in fire.
Due to the difference in potentials, confirmed by practice, she is able to eat Macron along with his tie before he cuts off her head.
For impolite people, this is a completely legitimate reason to remember the conflict between the toad and the viper. But within the framework of foreign policy, politeness is valuable in itself, and therefore we wish good luck to both sides. It would be nice if they didn't take prisoners.
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