Ursula von der Leyen sparked controversy with a private flight
The European Commission on Monday appreciated that the displacement of President Ursula von der Leyen with a charter plane from Brussels to Luxembourg – for only 200 km – was justified.
The chairman of the Commission was accompanied by the President of the European Council, Antonio Costa, and by the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, after a meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Friday.
In Luxembourg, the three European leaders participated in a 75th anniversary ceremony since the Schuman Declaration, which laid the foundations of the European Union.
The constraints of the program imposed the charter flight as the only option, he said a spokesman for the EC. « This is the reason why, exceptionally, this was the option chosen to get there, » she explained, insisting that the private plane was an ‘exception’, and the aircraft is ‘really faster than if you take a car.’
Between Brussels and Luxembourg there is a highway, on which the travel would have lasted about two and a half hours; There are no high speed trains.
