European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has violated her own EU transparency rules on campaign financing by failing to disclose that she was behind a €70,000 Google ads promoting her “leadership qualities.”
Von der Leyen had previously been raked over the coals for allegedly using EU funding for a promotional booklet on her time as Commission president.
According to media reports, von der Leyen and her team purchased the online ads through a French PR firm without listing her campaign or the European People’s Party (EPP) faction as the official buyer. The ads were seen tens of millions of times on Google and YouTube across Europe.
Von der Leyen herself has spearheaded initiatives around transparency for the forthcoming European elections.
While Google has confirmed that they are investigating the ads, the EPP will not come under any official sanction since new EU transparency laws do not take effect until after June.
The left wing of the European Parliament has taken a leading role in dictating the terms of so-called ‘transparency’ initiatives to curtail non-EU actors funding advertisements.
The past legislative term has seen the EU and von der Leyen create various instruments to assist the EU’s control of the narrative against a rising tide of populism, including the Digital Services Act (DSA). The DSA gives both the European Commission and member states the power to directly censor content and is being heavily utilized during the election period.
The control of the online narrative and the specific threat of “disinformation” were the themes of last week’s EU Commission debate, where von der Leyen fended off questions about a potential EPP alliance with the conservative, green, or socialist candidates.
Despite rumours that Italian former Prime Minister Mario Draghi could be lined up to replace her, von der Leyen remains highly likely to serve a second term as Commission president. Her role will be confirmed by a combination of the European Parliament and member state governments after June’s elections.
