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On Thursday, the European Parliament (EP) decided in a secret election that Ursula von der Leyen will be re-elected as President of the European Commission (EC). Of the 707 MEPs who voted, 401 votes were received, 284 against and 15 abstentions. 360 votes were enough for her election. TASR journalists reported on the matter.
Initial information indicated that von der Leyen needed at least 361 votes to be re-elected. However, the European Parliament’s press service noted that the situation had changed, as the Spanish MEP from the non-aligned bloc, Antoni Comín Oliveres, was not yet able to serve as an MEP, so the necessary threshold for an absolute majority was recalculated to 719 deputies instead of 720.
The final victory of 401 MEPs means that von der Leyen will serve as President of the European Commission for the next five years and can begin to deal with the formation of the new College of Commissioners and the allocation of work portfolios.
In this context, he will negotiate with each EU member state on the duties of the European Commissioner. Once the new EU executive body is set up, all nominees for European Commissioner will appear before members of the relevant working committee of the European Parliament, who will be checked in a three-hour “trial” for their integrity and expertise on the agenda entrusted to them by the European Parliament and the President of the European Commission. The entire Commission must then approve the European Parliament during a vote in plenary session.
The votes mean that von der Leyen has the support of representatives of the Green Party, in addition to pro-European groups such as the European People’s Party (EPP), the Socialists and Democrats (S&D) and liberals from the Renewed Europe (RE) faction and part of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group).
Green Party co-leader Terry Reintke told the media after leaving the parliamentary chamber after the vote that she supported von der Leyen. RE sources told Euronews that about 10 of the 77 Liberal MPs may have voted against the EU’s Gaza war policy, mainly the Irish finance minister. Some liberal members of the German Free Democratic Party (FDP) also opposed von der Leyen’s re-election.
Before the vote, the Patriots for Europe (PfE) and Sovereign Nations for Europe (ESN) parties made clear their positions on von der Leyen’s second term. Polish MEP Ewa Zajaczkowská-Herniková from ESN accused von der Leyen of being responsible for the destruction of European agriculture and for “every rape and attack by illegal immigrants in Europe”.
“You should be in jail, not in the European Commission,” Zajaczkowska-Elnikova told her in a speech to the plenary session of the European Parliament.
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