2 months before EU elections

Schüssel on Von der Leyen: “One in, five out”

(Bild: JOHN THYS / AFP, APA/GEORG HOCHMUTH)

Two months before the European elections, former Federal Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel (ÖVP) has sharply criticized the lead candidate of his conservative party family, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, accusing her of over-regulation: "Under von der Leyen, it's one out, five in."

"One out, five in", he criticized at a panel discussion in Vienna on Thursday, in a variation on the EU's bureaucracy reduction motto of "one in, one out".

Schüssel recalled that this principle had been introduced and practiced under former EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.

"You don't have to give everyone a competence"
"I am in favor of each member state retaining a commissioner, but you don't have to give everyone a competence", said Schüssel. For example, the area of foreign policy could be divided among several commissioners, who would have different regional responsibilities. On the other hand, he questioned the Commissioner for Multilingualism. Every Commissioner with their own portfolio would have to "prove that they have brought something together".

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen(Bild: AFP)

The EU institutions are "terrible at selling their own successes", criticized Schüssel. It also made no sense for them to carry around a "vendor's tray" of countless topics that they wanted to deal with incessantly. "You have to focus on the three or four really important issues," demanded the former chancellor.