AFP, STRASBOURG, France
Buttoned-up and with a taste for political intrigue, Manfred Weber has quietly emerged as one of the most powerful men on the European political stage.
The German politician has long headed the European People’s Party (EPP), the largest political group in the EU, despite being largely unknown to the general public.
Not so within the corridors of the European Parliament, where even rivals acknowledge that he is now the “kingmaker.”
European People’s Party President Manfred Weber, left, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen speak at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, on Wednesday.
Photo: AFP
That is only to be expected, as he has “the chance to be today” the president of the biggest party in Europe, Weber said in an interview.
His latest big win came on Wednesday, as lawmakers approved the new European Commission led by Ursula von der Leyen for her second term.
Weeks of political horse-trading resulted in all 27 commission members — most of them from the EPP — passing their confirmation hearings. This despite strong opposition to Raffaele Fitto, of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party, being entrusted with a commission vice presidency.
“For me that is a good day,” Weber told journalists ahead of the vote in Strasbourg.
Fitto said that he represents a moderate wing that needs courting rather than shunning.
“I want to split them, I want to split between the real hardcore right extreme” of Germany’s Alternative for Germany (AfD), French National Assembly Deputy Marine le Pen and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, “and the serious conservatives,” he said.
Putting Meloni and the AfD “into the same basket” is a “big mistake,” he said.
The approach has not won him many friends, with some lawmakers accusing him of being deliberately ambiguous for political gain.
“Manfred Weber is having a lot of fun,” said France’s Manon Aubry, cohead of the Left group in the EU parliament, who says her German colleague seeks alliances to his left or right depending on the interest of the day.
An EU lawmaker since 2004 and head of the EPP since 2014, Weber has long been champing at the bit to reach the level of influence he enjoys today.
In 2019 he was angling to become commission president, but lost out to Von der Leyen — something some believe he is still bitter about.
“You are not sitting there … and that is why you are upset,” Orban said during a parliamentary session this year, pointing to Von der Leyen’s seat.
Weber said that is water under the bridge, adding: “2019 is a long time ago.”
“The most important decisions in Europe are today done not in the national capitals anymore, but in Brussels and Strasbourg,” he said.
