Today, the European Parliament confirmed Ursula von der Leyen as President of the European Commission for another five-year term in a secret election. The German politician received 401 votes, announced the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsolaová.
The European Parliament has 720 members, so von der Leyen needed at least 360 votes. At the subsequent press conference, she stated that she wished for equal representation of men and women in the commission. He still intends to cooperate with parties that are pro-European, pro-Ukrainian and respect the rule of law.
A total of 707 MEPs voted today. 284 voted against von der Leyen remaining in office, 15 abstained from voting. Seven votes were invalid.
“The next five years. I can’t even express how grateful I am to all the MEPs who voted for me,” von der Leyen wrote on the X social network. In front of journalists, she also thanked the European Parliament for their cooperation in the previous five years.
The elected president of the commission will now send official letters to the heads of the EU member states. She invites them to suggest their candidates for her new team. Possible European commissioners then undergo hearings before the committees of the European Parliament in the autumn, the EP then confirms the commission as a whole in one vote. Von der Leyen said at the press conference that she wanted the “best prepared candidates” and an equal representation of men and women. He wants to meet and talk with the candidates from mid-August.
In a speech before the vote this morning, Von der Leyen tried to convince as many MEPs as possible to vote for her. She relied on the support of the European People’s Party (EPP), to which she politically belongs, the Socialists and Democrats (S&D) faction and the liberals from Renew Europe. However, she did not have the necessary number of votes in the secret ballot, where MEPs had the opportunity to vote independently of the faction.
The Greens also joined von der Leyen’s side, for which the head of the EC thanked them at the press conference after her election. On the contrary, Patriots for Europe (Patriots for Europe) stated in advance that they would not support it. The Left in the European Parliament (GUE/NGL) expressed the same opinion. The conservative ECR faction said before the vote that they had not been convinced by the head of the commission and that most national delegations would vote against her. But the faction reminded that voting is free, which means that everyone can vote according to their personal discretion.
At the moment when Metsola announced to the plenary in Strasbourg how many MEPs voted in favor, there was applause in the hall. While the representatives of the EPP celebrated, their colleagues from the newly formed Patriot group sitting next to them remained seated without much reaction. With a smile on her face, Von der Leyen made gestures of thanks and first hugged EPP chief Manfred Weber.
The 65-year-old German politician won about 56 percent of the vote, which is more than five years ago. At that time, 51 percent of MEPs voted for her.
Before the start of voting today, the Left asked that the election be postponed until the September meeting. She justified this by Wednesday’s verdict of the EU court, which decided that the European Commission did not provide the public with sufficient access to contracts for the purchase of vaccines against covid-19. The representative of the EPP faction argued that the verdict concerned the commission as an institution, not its individuals. The majority of MEPs subsequently rejected the postponement request in a vote.
Source: www.tyden.cz
