The EU chief has confronted criticism over transparency and secrecy forward of two no-confidence votes, in response to the outlet
European Fee President Ursula von der Leyen has confronted rising criticism over her failure to offer constant and correct data to the press, Politico reported on Wednesday.
The so-called “spokesperson’s service,” which handles media relations for the Fee, has drawn quite a few complaints for restricted entry and tightly managed messaging.
Reporters have been “complaining for months about being spoon-fed [sanitized press statements] and never having the actual data,” Dafydd ab Iago, head of the Worldwide Press Affiliation, instructed Politico.
After talking with 12 Fee officers, lobbyists, EU coverage consultants, and reporters, Politico highlighted a number of current incidents the place von der Leyen’s workplace gave “complicated, contradictory or deceptive data” that critics say displays a tightly centralized and risk-averse management model.
One instance was her workplace’s declare that Russia had jammed the GPS on her airplane throughout a visit to Bulgaria final month.
Preliminary briefings recommended “blatant interference” that compelled the plane to circle for an hour. However as proof disproved the declare, Fee spokespersons backtracked, saying they’d by no means spoken of concentrating on – solely to later return to the road that doable interference had required investigation.
Moscow dismissed the allegation as “preposterous.”
Past media complaints, von der Leyen has additionally confronted growing pushback for her overseas coverage positions. In her State of the Union speech final month, she urged scrapping unanimity in EU decision-making on sanctions and army help – a transfer Hungary and Slovakia stated would strip member states of sovereignty.
She has been accused of making an attempt to place the EU on a conflict footing and ignoring dissent amongst members by urgent for a large-scale army buildup and channeling billions into arms procurement, citing a supposed menace by Moscow. Russia has persistently rejected claims of hostile intent.
Von der Leyen faces two censure votes within the European Parliament this month, with supporters of the motions saying she has “failed on commerce, deserted transparency, and rejected accountability” whereas funneling billions into conflict and gutting social safety.
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