Ahead of June EU parliamentary elections, the lead candidate of the junior coalition partner in the German government blasted fellow German politician and head of the EU Commission Ursula von der Leyen, saying German business has little confidence in her.
Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann of the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) noted that a recent survey of the chambers of commerce in Germany showed only 5% of German industrial companies regarded the European Union as having become a more attractive location in the past five years.
"How can you simply want to stand for re-election as Commission president after such a vote of no confidence in our economy?" the FDP candidate asked at a party conference in Berlin. In February von der Leyen said she would run for another five-year term as EU chief.
As a former minister of labour, von der Leyen had shown scant concern for the economy and certainly not for small- and medium-sized enterprises, she continued.
"Without her success, companies will lose jobs due to the terrible framework conditions and this creepy bureaucracy," Strack-Zimmermann said.
Policy endorsed by von der Leyen is steeped in multiple layers of regulation, she said, while the EU Commission president even avoided voters in her homeland.
"But politics must be close to the people. She has to think in terms of the market economy. And that is not always cosy," the FDP politician said.
Strack-Zimmermann, who heads the German Parliament's Defence Committee, also accused von der Leyen, a former German defence minister, of having done too little to promote the EU's military cooperation and strengthening while in office.
She did not take care of Europe's security, "although the signals from the United States were clear that the European Union must also deliver more, do more within NATO," Strack-Zimmermann said.