The European Parliament re-elected Ursula von der Leyen for a second term as Commission President by an absolute majority on Thursday afternoon.
During the plenary session in Strasbourg, 401 MEPs voted in favour of the German EPP politician, 284 against. Von der Leyen can now start forming her commission together with the EU member states.
It was a secret ballot. The 65-year-old German was probably elected primarily by the MEPs from her EPP group and with the votes of the Social Democrats, Liberals and Greens.
Absolute majority clearly achieved
Shortly before the elections, the European Greens announced their yes to Von der Leyen on X (formerly Twitter). With 401 votes, Von der Leyen clearly obtained the necessary absolute majority of 360 of the current 719 MEPs.
In her candidacy speech to MEPs, von der Leyen spoke out for a “strong Europe” in a “time of great fear and uncertainty”. She explained that she wanted to fight for this with all democratic forces in the European Parliament. “I will never accept that demagogues and extremists destroy our European way of life.”
Von der Leyen sharply criticized Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s visit to Moscow. “This so-called peace mission was nothing more than a reconciliation mission,” she said, referring to Britain’s appeasement policy toward Adolf Hitler during World War II.
Source: Krone
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