The team around European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has defended itself against criticism of a flight with a private jet of 50 kilometers. ,,There was no more efficient option available”, it sounds.
Von der Leyen was criticized this week after it was announced this week that she had flown from Vienna to Bratislava in a private jet in June during a tour of capitals of the European Union. The flight lasted 19 minutes.
Her spokesman Eric Marble now says the 50-kilometer flight was part of a tightly planned two-day trip with flights to five EU member states. She could not go by car because she had to go to Latvia that same day.
“It would have taken too long to leave the chartered plane in Vienna for the trip to the Slovakian capital,” Marble said. The journey would have taken about an hour by car or train. According to the spokesperson, her job requires maintaining relationships with government leaders and heads of state that are “very important and require more than a simple Zoom contact.”
‘Ecological sin’
Michael Jaeger, the secretary general of the European Taxpayers Association, called the flight an “ecological sin.” “This has cost a lot of taxpayers’ money, a lot of time to and from the airport and above all a lot of credibility,” it says in a statement picture.
Under von der Leyen, the European Commission has made the fight against climate change a spearhead. With her Green Deal, she aims for a climate-neutral Europe by 2050. The Commission president also promoted this climate package at the climate summit in Glasgow this week.
The committee is doing its “extremely best” to ensure that the company where the planes are rented compensates for the CO2 emissions of von der Leyen’s flights, the spokesman said.
Johnson
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has also angered many with a short flight. The newspaper Daily Mirror wrote that Johnson flew a private jet from Glasgow to London for dinner at a gentlemen’s club. ‘Shocking hypocrisy,’ said Anneliese Dodds of the left-wing Labor party.
The newspaper published photos of Johnson leaving the exclusive Garrick Club in the capital on Tuesday evening. There, the conservative prime minister had reportedly attended a dinner for former journalists from the Daily Telegraph, his former employer. Johnson could also have taken the train after his last press moment in Glasgow, but then the journey would have ended, according to the newspaper The Guardian took about 4.5 hours.
Johnson’s office finds the criticism excessive. A spokesman said it is important that the prime minister has the opportunity to travel around the country.
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