Von der Leyen accused of ‘total piss-take’ after refusing to reveal Commission plans to MEPs

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen ruffled feathers in the European Parliament by refusing to tell senior MEPs her full plans only to reveal them to journalists at a press conference minutes later.

Speaking after a closed-door meeting between von der Leyen and leading MEPs in Strasbourg, one Parliament official accused her of “contempt, over self-confidence, disregard of [the European Parliament],” while a second said: “I’m rather shocked, to be honest. Total piss-take.”

The second official said two hours had been set aside for the meeting of the Conference of Presidents, which brings together leaders of the Parliament’s political groups, and is chaired by Parliament President Roberta Metsola.

The Parliament tweaked its own rules this year in an attempt to oblige the president of the Commission to fully reveal her plans — including the “allocation of responsibilities” in her top team — to MEPs. It’s something von der Leyen appears only to have partially abided by.

French MEP Manon Aubry, co-leader of The Left group, wrote on X that the choreography was an “illustration of her contempt for our Parliament.”

“Frankly it’s scandalous,” Aubry later told POLITICO, adding that she had asked von der Leyen to put names on portfolios during the closed-door meeting but got no response.

A Commission official strongly pushed back, saying the alternative would have led to the commissioners being announced by leaks from the meeting room, which would have led to chaos and misunderstanding.

“It’s always been the case that the COM President announces the College, in her own way, in her own press conference,” the official wrote to POLITICO.

“There is a desire to control the narrative and the whole sequence of events until the very end,” said an official in one of the political groups.