EU Executive Chair's Hypocrisy Controversy Over Charter Flight for 50km Schedule After Urging Climate Change Action

Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Song Seung-seop] It has been revealed that the President of the European Union (EU) Commission traveled 50km using a chartered plane. While urging the world to respond to climate change, she has been criticized for taking a plane for a short-distance trip herself.

According to major foreign media on the 5th, Ursula von der Leyen, President of the Commission, used a chartered plane to travel from Vienna, Austria to Bratislava, Slovakia in June. The distance between the two locations is only 50km. It takes about 1 hour by car or train, and about 19 minutes by chartered plane.

The visit at the time was conducted to discuss fundraising issues for the recovery of member countries and the regional economy. However, criticism arose that the use of a chartered plane, which negatively impacts the environment, was inappropriate given that the EU prioritizes climate change response as its top agenda.

Some foreign media reported that since her inauguration in December 2019, President von der Leyen has taken a chartered plane 18 times out of 34 official foreign visits. It is said that some of these destinations were close locations such as Paris, France or London, United Kingdom.

A spokesperson for President von der Leyen explained that it was a tight schedule traveling to five member countries over two days, and that there was a same-day itinerary to Latvia, making car travel difficult. They also stated that the use of chartered planes within the region requires consensus among the 27 member countries.

Meanwhile, the EU Commission is promoting a green transition with the goal of achieving ‘carbon neutrality’ by 2050. President von der Leyen recently proposed putting a price on carbon emissions at the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) special summit held in the United Kingdom.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.