The public outcry from the Socialists and the liberals, who accused von der Leyen of yielding to the political demands of her own European People’s Party, as well as, crucially, forces from the far right who have always hated the law, triggered a frenzy of phone calls over the weekend. Those twists and turns ultimately led to the Commission’s officially backtracking on Monday.
“If microenterprises are exempted from the scope of the directive, we will not withdraw it,” Berestecki said.
On Tuesday officials also let it be known that von der Leyen never wanted the law canceled in the first place, despite one of her Socialist executive vice-presidents, Teresa Ribera, appearing to express frustration with the turn of events and seeing the need to lobby internally to try to salvage it, according to officials. She even made a less-than-subtle plea on social media.
What is not clear ― and what no one seems to want to answer ― is whether the fiasco was a genuine communications error or, as many observers believe, the result of confused politics, or at least shock over the unintended consequences those politics triggered. In private, whispers abound that communications officials are being made the fall guys for bad decisions by those in power, but no one will go close to saying that on the record.
On Tuesday evening, Commission spokesperson Stefan De Keersmaecker didn’t directly answer a POLITICO question on whether there had been a communications error, and said that fellow spokesperson Paula Pinho’s “explanations clarify our position quite well.”
Those comments, made on Monday, were that the Commission will “wait until the next inter- institutional discussion” on the law and see if the Parliament and the Council agree to exempt very small businesses from the scope of the law. If so, the Commission would reconsider its position. This was a “suggestion” and not, as was said on Friday, an “intention,” according to her remarks.