Social Democrats demand housing policies from von der Leyen in exchange for their votes so she can repeat in the European Commission | European elections 2024 | News

The Social Democratic (S&D) group in the European Parliament demands that Ursula von der Leyen take more European social and political measures in the next legislature to end the European problem of access to housing. Supporting her continuation in the post of head of the European Commission is the main condition. Before the decisive vote of the European Parliament next Thursday…

The Social Democratic (S&D) group in the European Parliament demands that Ursula von der Leyen take more European social and political measures in the next legislature to end the European problem of access to housing. Supporting her continuation in the post of head of the European Commission is the main condition. Facing the decisive vote in the European Parliament to be held next Thursday, and which the German conservative must overcome to remain in office, the S&D group with at least 136 MEPs has also made it essential that the green agenda not be put on hold. The Socialists also demand that von der Leyen – from the family of the European People’s Party and who has been flirting for months with the Italian prime minister, the ultra-conservative Giorgia Meloni, and her parliamentary group, the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) – does not cooperate with the extreme right.

In their proposal, presented to von der Leyen in a closed-door meeting at the European Parliament this Tuesday, the Social Democrats speak of a shortage of affordable housing and a serious crisis across Europe. They propose to draw up a framework for a European programme, including specific programmes within European Cohesion Policy and additional investments of at least €50 billion from various sources of financing, including the European Investment Bank (EIB). Such a framework would include social and affordable housing schemes, support for national policies and public housing, a legislative initiative to regulate rents, and binding targets to gradually eliminate homelessness across the EU. “The lack of housing is a major European problem, which is also transversal, and involves energy efficiency, the anti-poverty agenda and everything else,” said Socialist MEP Lina Gálvez.

The Social Democrats also demand that the figure of a European Housing Commissioner be created. According to parliamentary sources present at the meeting, von der Leyen has been “receptive” to an idea. Other sources speak of a good atmosphere and emphasize that the German conservatives tried very hard to convince her. They illustrate this with an example: the forecast was that the initial intervention of the candidate to repeat as President of the European Commission in this meeting would last 20 minutes, but it lasted 40 minutes. “We have heard good words, but we need more specificity and that the “concreteness is transferred to strategic lines that von der Leyen has to present in writing, before the debate that we are going to hold in the European Parliament next Thursday,” says Iratxe García, president of the S&D.

“The Socialist group’s support cannot be a blank check,” says Garcia, who points out that the process for supporting the German party in the last legislature was similar. “We want you to make commitments regarding social policy and fundamental rights. And we also want to send a clear signal that we will not allow any setbacks in fundamental European progress,” he adds.

Von der Leyen is stepping up her aggression to secure the 361 votes (out of 720) of the European Parliament she needs to once again lead the Community executive, as EU leaders proposed a few weeks ago. The Commission president tries to convince her traditional coalition: her own popular MEPs, the Social Democrats and the Liberals. The sum of the three groups is 401.

But the voting process is secret and the German is expected to lose votes even from his own popular ranks. That is why he is also testing the Greens (53 MPs), whom he met this Wednesday – he also met with the liberals of Renew and some conservatives. On Tuesday, in his meeting with the Social Democrats, he again made a distinction between Meloni’s far-right group, the ECR, with which he will meet on Tuesday, and others, such as the New Patriots for Europe, led by Hungary’s Viktor Orbán and the French Marine Le Pen, which has become the third parliamentary group. The German company is not considering establishing a coalition with the ECR or a structured cooperation, but rather some concrete collaboration to advance the initiative.

Thus, the votes of the Social Democrats are decisive for von der Leyen. When negotiating, the S&D group, in addition to housing policies, places great emphasis on social and labor measures, to which it dedicates a specific section (the first and longest of the 12-page document). This section highlights strengthening the European Labor Authority or limiting the chain of contracts in subcontracts. They also demand that the target of coverage of the agreements be set at 80% of employees, a move that, if implemented, would have little impact in Spain, which comfortably exceeds that level, but would have a much bigger impact on eastern countries with much lower levels of protection.

“Von der Leyen must not abandon the social, equality and environmental agenda, and although there are other priorities, she must continue promoting it. Much has been done, but it must be implemented,” says Gálvez. The Social Democratic delegation agrees with the Greens’ demand that the European Green Deal not be withdrawn. One point of this program would be contradictory: the approval of 2035 as the final year in which manufacturers can sell combustion cars. This measure was approved with many difficulties in the legislature that is now ending and there is a lot of pressure from von der Leyen’s own party, the EPP, to delay the implementation of this ban. Parliamentary sources reveal that this was where the Germans were most elusive.