MEPs will vote on Thursday to decide if Ursula von der Leyen serves another term as EC president.
The former German defence minister has served as head of the Commission since 2019.
The result of the keenly awaited vote by MEPs will be known later on Thursday.
She faces competition from other candidates, including ECR Co-Chairman Nicola Procaccini.
Procaccini is a member of the Fratelli d’Italia party in Italy and took part in a debate with other MEPs on the election in Strasbourg on Thursday morning.
The MEP started with an apology, and said, “I would like to start by disappointing those who are expecting an indication of the ECR’s vote.
“Our group is made up of parties that do not give up on their national prerogatives. Everyone will express themselves on the basis of their national interests. We are conservative because we defend the values that have shaped Europe and Western civilisation as a whole.
“We are also conservative because, unlike others, we defend the founding treaties of the European Union, which state that the choice of the President of the Commission, ‘taking into account the results of the European elections‘, is a matter for the national governments and Parliament’s ratification.
“In the case of Mrs von der Leyen, the media outlet Politico wrote four days ago that her fate was not in the hands of the EPP, the ECR, or the Fratelli d’Italia, but in the hands of the big losers of the elections a few weeks ago: the Greens, first and foremost, the Socialists, like Timmermans, but also the Liberals, dragged down by the debacle of Macron’s party. It is clear that something is going wrong.”
The deputy went on, “We have nothing personal against you, Mrs von der Leyen. For almost your entire mandate you have been forced to chase the demands of the left. Five years ago, the European Council, the Commission, and the Parliament were hostages to a left-wing majority. Today, thanks to the results of the European elections, but above all thanks to the results of the national elections in all EU countries, our fellow citizens have overwhelmingly supported the sensible ideas of the centre-right. We will remain what we are: moderate in tone but firm in principle.”
The MEP told other members, “Just like that young university student of the Italian right, who has become a transversal symbol of justice and courage, who you, President Metsola, quoted on Tuesday and whose 32nd anniversary of his cowardly murder is tomorrow: Paolo Borsellino.
“To paraphrase one of his most famous utterances: It’s good to live for what you believe in.”
