World Times Special Reporters in Germany, SpainThe editor says:Political News Network that the European Parliament¡¯s far-right party and the Left party group put forward a no-confidence motion on September 10 against Von der Leyen and the European Commission under his leadership. On the same day, the annual ¡°Alliance Speech¡± by Von der Leyen was also celebrated and co-existed. An analysis suggested that either the no-confidence motion against Von der Leyen or the no-confidence vote on his speech reflected the growing political divisions within the EU and needed to be compensated through reforms. EU leaders have long said the organization needs to ¡°change direction¡±, but that reform requires consensus, and that it is difficult for all parties to reach consensus that is precisely what the EU is currently facing.

"If you follow your aunt's love, you lose your sister-in-law's wish"

According to a report by the US "Political News Network" on September 16, an email from European Parliament President Metsola seen by the media showed that the European Parliament will debate and vote on two motions of no confidence against von der Leyen and the European Commission led by him at its plenary session from October 6 to 9. These two motions were put forward by the far-right "European Patriots" group and the left-wing group of the European Parliament respectively. The "European Patriots" party group accused the European Commission of promoting a number of controversial trade agreements without the authorization of member parliaments, which seriously weakened Europe's economic strength and strategic autonomy. The left-wing party group criticized the European Commission for its passive inaction during the current round of Palestinian-Israeli conflict. "In the European Parliament, it is unprecedented to have two motions of no confidence at the same time." The US "Political News Network" said that just two months ago, von der Leyen had just survived a vote of no confidence, which highlighted the division within the EU.

Just on the same day that the two above-mentioned parties filed a no-confidence motion to the European Commission, Von der Leyen issued an annual "Alliance Speech".Before her speech began, she enthusiastically greeted some of the party leaders in the huge semicircular debate room of the European Parliament, or smiled to shake hands, or kissed the cheek, one on the left, one on the right, "as if she had just reunited with friends for years of disintegration," European News Network and German TV one described the scene at the time.

However, von der Leyen¡¯s ¡°Alliance Speech¡± speech of the day did not get a lot of praise. Instead, this speech should be for the European Union to determine future work priorities, no matter what the specific content is, many of which are ¡°in accordance with the wishes of the mother and sister¡± and half-pronounced.

In his speech, Von der Leyen said the EU was coordinating with partners to push forward the 19th round of sanctions against Russia, considering accelerating the elimination of Russian fossil fuels. This decision was supported by many EU member states, but Hungary and Slovakia opposed it, saying the move would push up energy prices and gradually eliminate (Russian fossil fuels) not only requires political decisions, but also requires the restructuring of the entire supply chain ¨C a process that will require years of investment.¡±Slovak Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy Sakova told Polish radio.

On the Gaza issue, Von der Leyen announced that the EU plans to suspend part of its bilateral support to Israel, impose sanctions on extremist ministers and violent settlers, and partially suspend trade-related matters in the EU-Israel Alliance Agreement.

"Deutsche Welle", Euronews and other media said that many members of the European Parliament welcomed the above plan announced by von der Leyen. For the Social Democratic caucus, however, the proposal came too late and too weak. Garcia, chairman of the caucus, questioned: "Where is Europe when Gaza is struggling to die?" Schildwan, co-chairman of the left caucus, accused the EU of pursuing double standards in foreign policy, calling on the EU to stop providing weapons to Israel and suspend the EU-Israel Association Agreement. Within the EU, Spain, Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden, France and Denmark hope to increase pressure on Israel, but Germany, Italy, the Czech Republic and Hungary oppose sanctions against Israel.

In her speech, she defended the recent EU-U.S. trade agreement, claiming that the agreement ensures Europe¡¯s ¡°best possible outcome¡± and ¡°think of the consequences of a comprehensive trade war with the United States.¡±Bardilla, the leader of the Alliance of European Patriots, said the agreement would turn Europe into a ¡°subordinate country¡± for the United States, but that it was unacceptable for the EU to accept 15% tariffs imposed by the United States without taking retaliatory measures. According to the Guardian, a recent poll conducted in the top five EU member states (Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Poland) showed that 52% of people thought the EU-U.S. trade agreement was ¡°a disgrace¡± and 75% said that Von der Leyen was ¡°very¡± or ¡°very bad¡± in def

Disagreements within the EU

"Can we unite together? Is there a sense of urgency?" in the "Alliance Speech" speech, Von der Leyen raised this question. However, before her speech, the US "Political News Network" spoke outright that this speech would expose the differences within the EU. In fact, not only are EU member states in a lot of different positions on some specific policies, but the differences and struggles between different political forces within the European Parliament and even the alliances are also escalating.

The German Voice, the British Guardian, and other media said that on September 3, the European Commission submitted a trade agreement with the South American ¡°Common Southern Market¡±. EU member states such as Germany, Spain and others expressed their support for the agreement, hoping to open up new markets to offset the effects of U.S. tariffs. However, France, Poland and Ireland said the agreement damaged the interests of European farmers, and the European Patriots party also opposed the agreement.

Von der Leyen comes from the center-right European People's Party group, which and the Social Democratic Party group are the first and second largest groups in the European Parliament respectively, and have a vital say in whether the European Commission can pass legislation. Now each side blames the other for undermining the weak pro-European forces in the European Parliament. Recently, the Social Democratic Party group has publicly opposed the European-American trade agreement, further deepening the rift between it and the European People's Party group.

The climate crisis-induced forest fires have devoured about one million hectares of land in the affected EU countries this year, equivalent to about one-third of Belgium's area. In this context, the EU Commission's energy and climate policy has been blamed. Some intermediate MPs in the European Parliament have outraged the European Commission's previous joining with far-right political parties in an attempt to stifle a anti-green-washing bill.

"An ungovernable continent"?

The reason why von der Leyen's "State of the Union Address" speech is unflattering is closely related to the strengthening of political fragmentation within the EU. According to the French newspaper Les Echos reported in December last year, the European political structure is characterized by the rapid rise of populist parties, and at the same time, it shows a high degree of partisan political fragmentation. A similar situation can be seen at the EU level. Although pro-EU political forces can still hold a majority in the European Parliament and the European Commission, this majority has become fragile, thus bringing instability and greater uncertainty.

The New York Times earlier that European countries are facing the breakdown of the traditionally dominant central-left and central-right mainstream parties and alliances that have ruled since World War II. The support for these parties has broken down into new right-wing and left-wing parties, and there are other factions that are not easy to define the ideological component. In European countries, there is a strong sense of identity with a political party or a sharp decline in the proportion of the population belonging to a particular party, and it takes longer and longer to form a multinational cabinet in Europe. At the same time, many new political parties enter the European Parliament, and the likelihood of a consensus in the EU is also reduced.

The New York Times analyzes that on the economic level, stagnation in the income of the middle- and working class, increased inequality, and the anger sparked by the 2008 international financial crisis, on the cultural level, conflict on the issue of immigration, nationalism and other issues; and the communication revolution is also the main factor in the multi-national political division of Europe, prompting the rise of organized loose unleaded protests, disrupting politics and giving rise to more political parties.

One of the problems caused by political fragmentation is the increasing difficulty of government administration. "From Britain to Poland, Europe is becoming an ungovernable continent." Bloomberg recently published an article saying that leaders of EU member states, including Britain, France, the Netherlands, Poland, Germany, etc., are all facing the challenge of increasingly difficult governance of their countries. Much of the continent is now plagued by tight budgets, poor management, divided parliaments and more. The Wall Street Journal previously warned that European political fragmentation and multipolarity have tied the hands and feet of leaders of many countries, and they can only form clumsy alliances between left-wing and right-wing parties to govern. Even on some basic issues, the government has struggled to find common ground, let alone dealing with thorny issues such as immigration, the Russia-Ukraine conflict and economic stagnation.

"Must learn to be flexible"

For the achievements and challenges achieved over the 30 years since the founding of the European Union, the Austrian TV station ORF on Austria¡¯s personal experience of joining the European Union under the title Achievements but Disappointments. The Austrian Institute for Economic Studies calculated that foreign trade contributed 0.7 percentage points per year to Austria¡¯s economic growth due to joining the European Union.

Former European Commissioner for Agricultural Affairs, Fischler, who is a Austrian citizen, said that the people¡¯s previous support rate for the EU was very high and a turning point appeared before the EU debt crisis broke out. Then a ¡°very, very bad¡± sentiment emerged, especially in recent years after the new crown epidemic and the outbreak of the conflict in Russia, where the EU has increasingly become the projector of everything ineffective.¡± Austria¡¯s European Political Society schmidt said in an interview with the country¡¯s media. According to a new survey conducted by the association this year, only 60 percent of respondents believe Austria should continue to remain in the EU.

Speaking to business executives in Davos, Switzerland at the beginning of this year, von der Leyen urged: ¡°Europe must change direction.¡±

Many EU countries are using the unanimous voting system to safeguard their own interests. Grillo, a researcher in the Department of Social and Political Science at Bocconi University in Italy, previously posted on the Australian "Dialogue" news network that Hungary is often regarded as a "bad person" by other EU member states when voting on sanctions against Russia or aiding Ukraine; France has always resisted any action to amend the EU's common agricultural policy, which allocates 1/3 of the EU budget to farmers, many of whom are French; Germany has blocked the reform of EU electoral law because Berlin's political establishment opposes any law that does not draw constituencies proportionately.

According to Grillo, expecting the abolition of the unified voting system in the EU is not feasible for a simple reason: to give up the unified vote requires the unified vote of all member states. He suggests that EU countries can form a small alliance around specific policies and set up mechanisms for withdrawal, similar to the euro area system and the Schengen system, allowing EU member states to join more flexibly in order to a specific area of objectives.

¡°The EU is the most successful political project of the twentieth century.If it wants to continue like this in the twenty-first century, it must learn to be flexible and only those who can adapt (to change) can survive,¡± Grillo said.