The President of the EU Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, will continue her job for another five years.
The EU Parliament supports her – with a margin of 41 votes.
Just after 2 pm on Thursday, Speaker Roberta Metsola could read out the decisive numbers:
Votes in favor: 401, said Metsola.
Thus, it was clear that the Parliament had given sufficient support to von der Leyen for another five years as Commission President.
284 voted against, 15 abstained, and 7 votes were declared invalid.
The result means that von der Leyen can now begin negotiating who will do what in her new EU Commission, which will replace her current one from November 1 at the earliest.
Criticism of Orbán
The green light came after von der Leyen presented her guidelines for the coming five years and addressed the members.
She presented a little of everything on a long list of areas, primarily to convince the heavy party groups in the middle: conservative EPP, social democratic S&D, and liberal RE.
I will never accept that demagogues and extremists destroy our European way of life. I stand here ready to lead the fight with all democratic forces in this house, said von der Leyen and received loud applause.
Even more applause followed when she then brought up the trip that Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orbán recently made to Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.
This so-called peace mission was nothing but a surrender. Only two days later, Putin's planes directed their missiles at a children's hospital. It was no mistake – it was a message, von der Leyen said bitterly.
Satisfied and Dissatisfied
For many members, the continued support for Ukraine and the need for stability in the EU are the most important reasons for choosing von der Leyen.
Now Putin and Orbán have lost. For it was they who sat and hoped that the extremists to the right and left would bring her down, said Tomas Tobé (The Moderate Party).
Behind von der Leyen now stood not only the majority of EPP, RE, and S&D but also many of the Greens. Thus, von der Leyen did not have to turn to the far-right and EU-skeptics.
It was a very clear stance against closing the door to the far-right and Russia-friendly parties. Now we're building cooperation on what we call the broad middle, said Heléne Fritzon (The Social Democratic Party).
But not everyone is satisfied.
She was elected with the support of the Greens. I fear that she will now deliver policy in their favor, said Charlie Weimers (The Sweden Democrats).
German Ursula von der Leyen was born in 1958 in Brussels, where her father Ernst Albrecht worked for the EU Commission.
She is a trained doctor and met her future husband Heiko von der Leyen during her education, whom she married in 1986. The couple has seven children together.
After engaging in the Christian Democratic CDU, she received a series of ministerial posts under Chancellor Angela Merkel: Minister for Family Affairs 2005-09, Minister for Labor and Social Affairs 2009-13, and Minister of Defense 2013-19.
After the EU election in May 2019, she was unexpectedly launched as a compromise candidate for the post of President of the EU Commission and took office formally from December 1 the same year.
This is what some of the Swedish EU Parliament members say about the support for Ursula von der Leyen:
This clearly shows that the Parliament is responsible in a geopolitically very strained time. This signals unity and perseverance, said Alice Teodorescu-Måwe (The Christian Democrats).
Right woman for the job. This is proof that EU policy will be shaped in the middle, said Karin Karlsbro (The Liberals).
This means that the Green Deal will continue and be implemented and expanded. We are very happy, said Isabella Lövin (The Green Party).
This was a very clear right-wing message in the speech. Added to that is that von der Leyen has been very cautious and vague in her criticism of Israel's aggression in Gaza, said Jonas Sjöstedt (The Left Party).
