Can von der Leyen 2.0 turn ambitious promises into policy?

Good morning. There will be no change at the top of the EU after Ursula von der Leyen secured five more years as European Commission president yesterday. Her increased parliamentary majority came with the price of big, ambitious policy promises.

Today, I assess how that could shape her second term, while our man in the Balkans reports on the geoeconomics of Europe’s largest lithium mine project in Serbia.

Harder, better, faster, stronger

In an email to European Commission staff a few hours after securing her second term as president, Ursula von der Leyen warned her team that the EU “will have to switch gears”.

“I count on your experience and professionalism to turn our new ambitions into action,” she wrote in the message, seen by the Financial Times.

Context: Von der Leyen won the votes of 401 MEPs yesterday, backed by most of her centre-right party, the centre-left, liberals and Greens. She did so after presenting an extensive policy programme that included new commissioners, pledges on defence and capital market integration, and promises to overhaul EU spending.

Maintaining that parliamentary coalition will be crucial to implement the laundry list of new ideas. It will require some serious political gymnastics.

Declaring a “Clean Industrial Deal”, as von der Leyen did yesterday, is far easier than working out how many opt-outs businesses can be given on climate rules before Green MEPs cry foul.

She also wants “a new approach to competition policy . . . more supportive of companies scaling up in global markets,” but which at the same time protects small businesses.

To win over the Socialists, she promised a commissioner for housing. How many of the EU’s 27 governments are going to let Brussels tell them how to build homes?

In terms of logistics, her next steps are much clearer.

Von der Leyen said she would ask governments to name their candidates for commissioners “in coming weeks”, requesting a man and a woman to ensure gender balance, except for those remaining in post.

Each commissioner must also convince a majority in parliament, with MEPs keen to ensure the policy promises von der Leyen made yesterday are kept.

Between now and then, there may be efforts to rebuild ties with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party, which rejected von der Leyen.

Nicola Procaccini, one of its MEPs, said the party could not support von der Leyen once the Greens did, surprising many in Italy who had expected the party to come around following her extended courtship of Meloni before the elections.

Procaccini emphasised they wanted to maintain “a constructive relationship” with von der Leyen.

Chart du jour: Hold it

The European Central Bank yesterday kept its main interest rate at 3.75 per cent, amid concerns that rapid wage rises will keep pushing up prices.

What’s mine is yours

Serbian activists and opposition politicians are up in arms against plans to revive Europe’s largest lithium mine project, which the government hopes will leverage massive investments, writes Marton Dunai.

Context: The picturesque Jadar valley in western Serbia harbours large lithium and boron deposits that could provide enough material to power more than 1mn electric vehicles annually. It’s the largest such reserve in Europe, and seen as key for the green transition.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz travels to Serbia today to sign a deal with Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić to jointly develop and exploit the mine.

But some Serbians are not exactly thrilled.

Environmental activists have in the past blocked bridges and roads to stop the project and said they might do so again. Opposition politicians have pointed out the project could bolster what they say are autocratic tendencies of Vučić’s regime.

“Western leaders exchange democracy in Serbia for stabilocracy,” said Savo Manojlović, a campaigner who led protests against the project two years ago. “Their vision is Serbia as a colony, a periphery of Europe, without rule of law, ecological standards or democracy. We want to be part of modern Europe instead, where such standards are respected.”

Serbia has been an EU candidate country for more than a decade, but the accession process has been slowed down over Brussels’ concerns about the rule of law and corruption.

Serbian finance minister Siniša Mali has said the project could boost gross domestic product by more than €10bn if everything goes according to plan.

“I am afraid that the EU is putting the story of democracy, human rights, and media freedom in Serbia in the background,” journalist Safeta Biševac told the news channel N1. “It seems to me that lithium is more important to them.”

She’s echoing the view of the majority of ordinary Serbs who, according to polls, want nothing to do with the project.

What to watch today

1. Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić hosts German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

Now read these

• Making moves: Breakdancing will for the first time be part of the Olympic Games. Meet the b-boys and b-girls trying to qualify for Paris.

• It’s all connected: An issue at Swift, the global payments system, delayed high-value payments in the UK and affected financial institutions in Europe.

• Offshoring: Britain has left open the option of processing asylum claims outside the UK, as part of warming up ties with Europe.