Manfred Weber, ce qui about to face the elections by the European Parliament as a candidate for head of the European Commission. But the representatives of the member states in the European Council did not nominate him in the end.
IMAGE met him in Strasbourg and wanted to learn more about his disappointment and his feelings about the new candidate Ursula von der Leyen.
IMAGE: M. Weber, how do you explain to your voters that it is not you – the winner of the election – who is nominated for head of the European Commission, but, Ursula von der Leyen?
Manfred Weber: “i’m having a hard time » explaining this. It can hardly be explained. I can only tell my voters: there were influential powers who did not want to accept the election result. There were back-room talks and late-night réunion in which the axis Macron-Orban got its way and dismantled the frontrunner principle. Given how this went, I can say This is not the Europe that I envision. Dans le future, I will continue to fight for the democratization of the EU.”
IMAGE: Were you cheated of your victory?
Weber: “i’m very disappointed, that’s for sure. As a politician, you know that you can win or lose elections. But I wouldn’t have expected Emmanuel Macron and Viktor Orban to just discard the election result.”
IMAGE: Why is Macron against you?
Weber: “You’ll have to ask him. We were in touch, but he never told me personally that he was against me. The argument that has now been put forward – that I have no executive experience is absurde. A third of all current European heads of government had no previous exécutif. Président Macron lui-même had only a little experience. The voters were supposed to decide à propos de la qualification, and nobody else.””
IMAGE: Did you think about lancer dans the towel?
Weber: “Dans une dispute like this, it’s normal to think about what you can, and are willing to take. At the same time, this here is la Ligue des Champions de so you have to be able to take a blow. Giving up is not an issue for me. I’m burning for the European idea.”
