From missile shield to European train tickets: With these proposals, von der Leyen hopes to become Commission president again

Von der Leyen is not bluffing: in the introduction to her political programme she actually refers to the previous European Commission’s climate programme, the Green Deal. “We must continue to follow the path set out in the European Green Deal.”

Remarkable: It opens a gap in the margin of e-fuels, synthetic fuels for cars that rely on hydrogen and carbon dioxide. This represents a clear nuance for the European ban on combustion engines by 2035.

In addition, she believes there must be a clean industry deal. And quickly: already in the first 100 days of the new Commission. The aim of such a master plan is to make European industry competitive again compared to major powers like China, and should help create more good jobs and move towards low emissions and sustainable production.

According to her, the clean industry deal should ultimately lead to lower energy prices for families. “I have not forgotten how Putin blackmailed us into cutting off Russian fossil fuels,” she said in the European Parliament. “But we stood strong together. We invested heavily in cheap domestic renewable energy sources. Together we will ensure that we end our dependence on Russian fossil fuels. Once and for all.”

Less administrative burden on companies, less bureaucracy, more trust, faster permits: von der Leyen is serious about boosting the competitiveness of European companies. She is giving much more attention to SMEs in her political plans than in the previous government period.

To achieve climate goals, von der Leyen wants to make it easier to use sustainable transport. She believes that using the train across Europe should become more visible. Step 1: A unified digital booking platform for European train tickets. This means that you only have to buy one ticket for a train journey across different countries, without having to give up your rights or services.

Von der Leyen wants to make the EU a leader in AI innovation. To that end, she wants to make supercomputing capacity available to startups and industry and create a European AI Research Council to share available resources and knowledge.

She proposes to spend the coming years developing a European defence union. To this end, she wants, among other things, to appoint a European Commissioner for Defence. This should, among other things, ensure that investments in European defence are made more efficiently. In cooperation with NATO, she also wants to create a European missile shield and work on improving cybersecurity.

“Europe cannot control tyrants and demagogues around the world, but it can choose to protect its democracy,” he added, in a veiled reference to figures like Putin and Trump. “Europe cannot decide elections around the world, but it can choose to invest in security and defense on its own continent.”

To tackle cross-border crime, it proposes to make Europol a “truly operational police agency”, which could, and perhaps will, be active in several member states at the same time. To make this possible, it wants to double the number of Europol staff in the long term.

The migration pact struck by member states and the European Parliament last year must be implemented during the next government term, von der Leyen says in her political plans. That’s why she wants to strengthen Frontex (the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, ed.).

“To make it more effective, while fully respecting fundamental rights, I propose to triple the number of European Border and Coast Guards to 30,000.”

Von der Leyen also wants to develop “comprehensive partnerships” with countries on the other side of the Mediterranean, including facilitating the return of deported asylum seekers. She intends to appoint a European commissioner responsible for the Mediterranean region.

She points out that people are having to spend an increasingly larger part of their household budget on housing. That’s why she wants to appoint a commissioner who will focus, among other things, on the European affordable housing plan.

“Housing is not generally seen as a European issue,” she said in her speech. “Some might say we shouldn’t interfere in that. But I want this Commission to support people in the areas that matter most. And if it matters for Europeans, it matters for Europe.”

Von der Leyen has listened to the farmers’ protests: she wants to launch a support scheme for farmers in Europe as soon as possible. She wants farmers to have a fair income, without having to sell their produce at very low prices.

She also wants to eliminate the excessive bureaucracy that farmers have to adhere to and reward farmers who care about nature, biodiversity and the climate.