European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen gave the clearest signal yet that she is willing to cooperate with the European Conservatives and Reformists group.

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So for all his talk about troops on the ground and nuclear deterrent, Emmanuel Macron will not give a single Euro to the Czech ammunition initiative that’s providing a lifeline to Ukraine.
And seemingly France won’t allow a common EU contribution

NEW: Ursula von der Leyen opens door to banning TikTok in the EU.

“It’s not excluded,” she tells Maastricht debate, adding the app is already restricted for European Commission staff.

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Lol, not bad

In fact, our POLITICO livestream is being watched by more than 100,000 people as we speak - and that’s just one platform.

Thanks for watching though!

I must say: This debate is surprising, to the upside. Genuine tension. Rapid back-and-forth between candidates. No-holds-barred sparring between the far-right and Ursula von der Leyen, who gives as good as she gets.

Actual (European) politics.

The stage is set, the red carpet unfurled and the tension is starting to rise here in Maastricht where we are holding the first EU election debate

Ursula von der Leyen clashes Nicolas Schmit, PES lead candidate, Bas Eickhout, Anders Vistisen and others

#maastrichtdebate

Looking forward to opening tonight’s Maastricht debate and welcoming “Ursula” who’s joining us along with seven other leading candidates for European Commission president.

Watch. Ask questions. Have your say, as they say

More time, more uncertainty, particularly for the most visible candidates (ahem, VdL). Extra months would let leaders rifle through binders of ex-PMs in search of “just right”.

The race is on to get air defense batteries to Ukraine, but it doesn't look like they will be coming from Spain or Greece.
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Third, a mere allusion to the fact that none of the institutional reform previously put forward found support within the EU.

The ensuing conference on the future of europe revealed underperformed.

The new EU electoral law didn’t even made it to Council’s table.

Enlargement…

We saw the other side during the last Council, when a group of 10 countries fought back against FR-DE plans for a capital markets union.

Thing is, the other side has no spokesperson, and the Commission is leaning toward Macron on all of these subjects.

Macron tl;dr

Europe can die / make or break / everything is decided now / we need to subsidize our industry / stop over-regulating

Macron is giving plenty of praise to 'Europe' for having overcome challenges, etc.

Not mentioned: Ursula von der Leyen.

Emmanuel Macron propose :
- 'd'insérer dans nos traités une préférence européenne pour la défense et le spatial'
- de créer 'une dérogation à la libre concurrence pour soutenir les secteurs clés en transition: l'IA et les technologies vertes'

Macron goes in strongly on EU over-regulation. The current system of high burdens for local agricultural producers and fewer restrictions for imports will lead to a market of consumers, with no producers left, he said.

Finally, the brutal truth from no one less than the French President Macron:
'We may weaken, we may fall behind, because the world is undergoing unprecedented change. Europe could die; it depends on us.'

Pretty strong pitch from Macron to massively subsidize the European space and defense industries.

'It's the only thing that will allow us to respond to massive subsidies from the United States and China.'

France from Day 1 !