Top position in the EU Commission
Von der Leyen used the private jet 23 times
February 28, 2024, 10:16 p.m
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The EU Commission’s code of conduct is clear: private jets should only be used by top staff in exceptional cases. However, boss von der Leyen used the service 23 times in 2023 alone. Even for the short route between Brussels and Strasbourg, she chose the air taxi rather than the train.
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen flew on a private jet 23 times last year. This puts her far ahead of the 27 EU commissioners – the Commission as a whole only had 29 such flights in 2023, as can be seen from a paper that the EU politician and left-wing leader Martin Schirdewan had requested. This means that von der Leyen alone accounted for almost 80 percent of all flights in the service of the EU Commission. However, according to a code of conduct for commission members, private aircraft should only be used in exceptional cases.
The EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell only traveled twice on a private plane during the period, as the paper shows. According to the list, von der Leyen traveled three times in 2023 on a private plane between Brussels and Strasbourg, the two seats of the EU Parliament. There are train connections that take under five hours to cover the route. The Code of Conduct for Commissioners states: “All options, including alternative scheduling, should be carefully considered so that air taxi is only considered as a last option.”
“That’s bold”
“It is a shame that the Commission President is still relying on private planes in the face of the climate crisis,” Schirdewan told “Spiegel”. Commissioners and their staff should not be allowed to fly to destinations that can be traveled by train within six hours. “Calling people with little money to save energy, but flying from A to B in a private jet is audacious.”
In the previous two years, i.e. 2021 and 2022, according to the lists, von der Leyen traveled by private plane a total of 57 times, the magazine reported. At that time, a commission spokesman justified the high number by saying that significantly fewer scheduled flights were available due to the corona pandemic. In addition, unlike many national governments, the Commission does not maintain its own flight operations.