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AFP
Brussels
The European Commission’s incoming chief, Ursula von der Leyen, on Monday defended a controversial “Protecting our European Way of Life” title for her new migration commissioner, rejecting calls to change it.
The monicker is under fire from European lawmakers, rights groups and some member states for echoing the xenophobic rhetoric of the far-right.
But, in a statement run by various European newspapers, she said it was grounded in the “tolerance” and “non-discrimination” expressed in the European Union treaty. Von der Leyen, a former German defence minister, acknowledged that the wording “triggered a debate” and that “for some, the European way of life is a loaded, politicised term”.
But she called the polemic “a good thing” that promoted transparency. “We cannot and we must not let ourselves have our linguistic expressions taken away -- they are also part of who we are,” she said.
Brussels
The European Commission’s incoming chief, Ursula von der Leyen, on Monday defended a controversial “Protecting our European Way of Life” title for her new migration commissioner, rejecting calls to change it.
The monicker is under fire from European lawmakers, rights groups and some member states for echoing the xenophobic rhetoric of the far-right.
But, in a statement run by various European newspapers, she said it was grounded in the “tolerance” and “non-discrimination” expressed in the European Union treaty. Von der Leyen, a former German defence minister, acknowledged that the wording “triggered a debate” and that “for some, the European way of life is a loaded, politicised term”.
But she called the polemic “a good thing” that promoted transparency. “We cannot and we must not let ourselves have our linguistic expressions taken away -- they are also part of who we are,” she said.
