Von der Leyen makes her pitch to MEPs in Strasbourg

Von der Leyen makes her pitch to MEPs in Strasbourg
By Darren McCaffrey
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After groups like the Greens publicly announced they would not be supporting Ursula von der Leyen as President of the European Commission last week, she had one last debate with MEPs on Tuesday morning in Strasbourg. Read here to find out the ideas she pitched to appeal to all political groups.

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Ursula von der Leyen pitched her ideas to MEPs on Tuesday morning in Strasbourg in a final attempt to convince them to vote for her as President of the European Commission.

She catered to several political groups' priorities in order to make her a favourable candidate.

For example, she tried to charm the Greens by promising 55% CO2 cuts by 2030.

"To make it happen I will put forward a Green Deal for Europe in my first 100 days in office," von der Leyen said.

She also made concessions to convince Social Democrats that she had a strong social approach with ideas including an unemployment scheme.

"Every person that is working full time should earn a minimum wage that pays for a decent living," she said.

Speaking on migration, von der Leyen called for more solidarity to help countries with borders to share their burden.

"At sea, there is the duty to save lives," she said.

She defended gender balance by promising that her Commission would strictly respect it.

Von der Leyen even opened the door to a new delay in Brexit.

"I stand ready for further extension of the withdrawal date should more time be required for a good reason,' she said.

Her speech was wide-ranging and impassioned at times. This marks a solid turn for von der Leyen, who was accused of being too vague during her meetings in Brussels last week. The question still remains: is it enough to win over a majority of MEPs?

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