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BREAKING NEWS The European Parliament confirms Ursula von der Leyen as president of the European Commission / 401 MEPs voted in her favor / The head of the European Commission promises to eradicate extremism in the EU and offers full aid for Ukraine / The extreme right wanted her to go in prison

Ursula von der Leyen, a center-right German politician, has won the European Parliament’s vote to remain as European Commission president for a second five-year term.

The European Parliament confirms Ursula von der Leyen as President of the European Commission

Ursula von der Leyen, a center-right German politician, has won the European Parliament’s vote to remain as European Commission president for a second five-year term.

401 MEPs voted in his favor.

UPDATE MEPs reject requests to postpone the vote

Far-left MEPs tried to delay the vote because of a court ruling on Wednesday, which said the EU executive had not been transparent enough about signing contracts for Covid-19 vaccines.

Left-wing co-chair Martin Schirdewan said: “We need to give the Commission President time to deliver these full contracts and that is why we are proposing to postpone this vote until the September session.”

Jeroen Lenaers, from the EPP, supported holding the vote now: “Let’s not abuse the court for political purposes … this is a purely political motion.”

MEPs then rejected the motion by vote, with 531 votes against, 101 for and 8 abstentions.

The fact that only 640 MEPs voted – out of a total of 720 – could worry some in Ursula von der Leyen’s camp, who would benefit from a larger turnout to reach the necessary 361 votes in favour.

UPDATE S&D confirms vote for Ursula von der Leyen

While MEPs were queuing to cast their vote, the S&D (Alliance of Socialists and Democrats) confirmed that they would vote for Ursula von der Leyen for a second term.

“We have made the Commission’s policy guidelines the most social and ecological yet (…) for the first time, the European Union will have a European strategy against poverty and we will finally tackle the housing problem, with a commissioner for housing”, said the president of S&D, Iratxe García.

“Our vote is not a blank cheque. Our work begins now,” she added, arguing that the Socialists would hold von der Leyen accountable for her promises.

UPDATE The Greens confirm that they will vote for Ursula von der Leyen

“The Greens/ALE Group has officially decided to support Ursula von der Leyen as President of the European Commission,” the group posted on X.

The decision of the 53 members of the Greens’ legislative group, taken by vote in a closed-door meeting, strengthens von der Leyen’s chances of securing another five years at the head of the European Union’s most powerful institution.

The vote is secret. Parliamentarians began voting to elect or reject von der Leyen at 1:00 p.m. (2:00 p.m. Romanian time) in Strasbourg, France.

UPDATE von der Leyen’s extreme right: go to prison, not Brussels!

“Your appointment to head the Commission was a big mistake. I am addressing you as a woman to a woman, as a mother to a mother, are you not ashamed of the migration pact? You are responsible for every rape, for every tragedy caused by illegal migrants, you should end up in prison, not in the European Commission”. Ewa Zajaczkowska-Hernik, MEP from the Europe of Sovereign Nations, said this while speaking in the Chamber on behalf of the far-right group, ahead of the vote on Ursula von der Leyen. “We want a Europe of free states. And keep your hands off Poland”, concluded the exponent of the ultra-right Polish Konfederacja, whose words were met with boos in the hall.

UPADTE EU Greens: Yes to von der Leyen against the far right, even if she doesn’t have a green program

“If you ask me if Ursula von der Leyen is a green candidate for the presidency of the European Commission or if the program she illustrated to us is green, I can tell you no”, but “we negotiated hard, we made compromises in the last weeks because we have to to prevent the extreme right from gaining power and having an impact on the decision-making process of the EU”. The co-chairman of the Greens, Terry Reintke, said this from the microphone.

UPDATE Defense promises

UPDATE Weber, EPP: voting for Ursula von der Leyen is the right choice

The president and group leader of the EPP, Manfred Weber, urges his fellow MEPs from Strasbourg to “vote for Ursula von der Leyen. It is the right choice: the EPP will certainly do this”, he assures.

UPDATE Von der Leyen: we fight against addictive social networks and cyberbullying

“I have to tell you that my heart bleeds when I read about people harming themselves or even taking their own lives because of online abuse, I think of those last moments and the pain their friends must have felt. Those people This is devastating. We will never be able to accept this in our society as the right thing.” This is what the president of the responsible European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said in her speech on her 2024-2029 programmatic lines before the European Parliament vote.

UPDATE Von der Leyen: We will support Ukraine as long as necessary

“Two weeks ago, a European prime minister went to Moscow. This so-called peace mission was only a mission of acceptance, of peace, a policy of excessive concessions – said Ursula von der Leyen, referring to Viktor Orban, in her candidacy speech for the presidency of the Commission at the Plenary of the European Chamber – Just two days later, Putin’s planes hit a children’s hospital. It was a message from the Kremlin to reassure us all. The EU will support Ukraine as long as it is needed.” .

UPDATE Von der Leyen: The bloodshed in Gaza must stop now

“The bloodshed in Gaza must stop now. Too many children, women and civilians have lost their lives in Israel’s response to Hamas terror. The people of Gaza no longer support and humanity no longer supports”. The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, stated this in her speech to the European Parliament for the confirmation vote for a second mandate.

Von der Leyen: “The era of dependence on Russia is over.” The statement was accompanied by applause from the hall

The European Union must “ensure that the era of dependence on Russian fossil fuels ends once and for all.” The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said this while delivering her speech at the European Parliament in Strasbourg for her reconfirmation as head of the Commission. The statement was accompanied by long applause from the MEPs in the Chamber.

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The vote will determine whether there will be continuity in the European Union’s key institution at a time of external and internal challenges – including growing support for far-right and Eurosceptic political parties in the 27-nation bloc.

In the absence of an obvious alternative candidate, von der Leyen’s supporters presented the vote as a choice between stability and chaos, as his rejection would create a political deadlock.

“It would be seen as rolling out the carpet for the far right,” Sean Kelly, an MEP from von der Leyen’s centre-right European People’s Party, said of the possibility of parliament rejecting it.

Von der Leyen, 65, will outline her plans for a second term in a speech on Thursday, starting with a first term in which she oversaw the world’s largest package of climate change policies, a the EU’s €800 billion ($875 billion) response to the COVID-19 pandemic and 14 rounds of sanctions against Russia following its invasion of Ukraine.

Even among critics, there is little appetite for creating a leadership vacuum in Europe months before November’s U.S. presidential election, where a victory by Republican Donald Trump could upend Western unity over support for Ukraine. But the numbers remain tight.

Von der Leyen, mother of seven children and the first woman to lead the Commission, needs the support of at least 361 deputies out of the 720 members of the EU Parliament.

The three centrist groups expected to support it have a total of 401 deputies. But it is expected that some of them will not vote for it and oppose it in the secret ballot.

To pass easily, she may need the support of parts of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group, consisting of 78 members, or of the 53 deputies of the Greens.

“We need that message that we rely on the current ‘green deal’ and that we will not back down,” said Bas Eickhout, co-chairman of the Greens legislative group, regarding the conditions for his support.

Source: www.mediafax.ro