Scholz Warns Von der Leyen Against Coalition With Populists

Ursula von der Leyen and Olaf Scholz.Photographer: Carsten Koall/Getty Images
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Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Germany would only support European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen for a second term if her center-right European People’s Party can build a stable majority in the next European Parliament without support of the far right.

“A commission president must always rely on the democratic parties of Europe, on a platform including the Social Democrats, the Conservatives, the Liberals,” Scholz said at an event of his center-left Social Democrats in Berlin. “There must not be any far-right or right-wing populist parties.”