Immediately, in a secret poll, the European Parliament confirmed Ursula von der Leyen as President of the European Fee for an additional five-year time period. The German politician gained 401 votes, introduced the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola.
Ursula von der Leyen, the present president of the European Fee, speaks throughout a plenary session of the European Parliament. Photograph: Philipp von Ditfurth / DPA / ČTK
The European Parliament has 720 members, so von der Leyen wanted not less than 361 votes.
A complete of 707 MEPs voted right this moment. 284 voted towards preserving von der Leyen in workplace, 15 abstained from voting. Seven votes had been invalid.
In a speech earlier than the vote this morning, Von der Leyen tried to persuade as many MEPs as attainable to vote for her. She relied on the assist of the European Folks’s Celebration (EPP), to which she politically belongs, the Socialists and Democrats (S&D) faction and the liberals from Renew Europe. Nonetheless, she didn’t have 361 votes within the secret poll, the place MEPs had the chance to vote independently of the faction.
The Greens additionally joined her facet. Quite the opposite, Patriots for Europe (Patriots for Europe) said upfront that they might not assist it. The Left within the European Parliament (GUE/NGL) expressed the identical opinion. The conservative ECR faction mentioned earlier than the vote that they’d not been satisfied by the pinnacle of the fee and that almost all nationwide delegations would vote towards her. However the faction reminded that voting is free, which implies that everybody can vote based on their private discretion.
When Metsola introduced to the plenary in Strasbourg what number of MEPs voted in favor, there was applause within the corridor. Whereas the representatives of the EPP celebrated, their colleagues from the newly shaped Patriot group sitting subsequent to them remained seated with out a lot response. 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 gained roughly 56 % of the vote, which is greater than 5 years in the past. At the moment, 51 % of MEPs voted for her. (ČTK)
