For the first time in its history, we could be looking at a genuinely rightwing EU

Ursula von der Leyen knows that her new commission will need support from the kind of hard-right parties it once swore to shun

MEPs should not miss the opportunity to ask Ursula Von der Leyen — and her appointees — for clarity on one important question: which political majority will she rely on and respond to over the coming five years? Picture: AP

Many observers breathed a sigh of relief earlier this year when the mainstream, pro-EU alliance  — of centre-left, centre-right and liberal parties  — held on to its majority in the European parliament elections.

These parties, which have governed Europe for the past four decades, are to endorse Ursula von der Leyen’s new European Commission by the end of the month, with the declared goal of making the European economy greener, more competitive and more secure.