Ursula von der Leyen has been elected for a second term as European Commission president, after securing the backing of a majority of MEPs in a crunch vote.
Ms von der Leyen received 401 votes, meaning she was elected by a margin of support of about 40, a much more comfortable victory than had been predicted several weeks ago.
Some 284 MEPs voted against handing the commission president a second term, while 15 abstained in the vote this afternoon, and seven votes were spoilt.
The Greens group decided to back Ms von der Leyen, in a move that delivered the commission president the necessary majority of MEPs in the vote.
Brussels is gripped by one question: does Ursula von der Leyen have the votes?
The Spectator’s summer bash is the power party of Westminster and its fuel is champagne
Trump shooting suspect: FBI finds few red flags on would-be assassin
‘Six-million puzzles pieces’: The Jerusalem centre working to keep alive the memory of the Holocaust
In a statement minutes before voting started, the Greens group of 53 MEPs said it had decided to support the commission president for a second term after securing commitments on climate reform, plans to make the EU “more socially fair” and the protection of democracy.
[ Von der Leyen makes policy pledges ahead of voteOpens in new window ]
Ahead of the vote, Ms von der Leyen promised the EU would do much more in areas such as housing and defence if given a second term as European Commission president.
Ms von der Leyen needed at least 361 of the 720 MEPs to vote in favour of her leading the commission for another five years.
The governing majority in the European Parliament of the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP), centrists Renew and the centre-left Socialists & Democrats (S&D) command about 400 votes together. Fears that some in that number would rebel and vote against the commission president meant the German politician has spent weeks trying to shore up votes from elsewhere.
Speaking after the vote, Ms von der Leyen said the majority of MEPs who backed her sent a “strong message of confidence”.
In the coming weeks she said she would write to national governments to seek their nominations for each countries’ EU commissioner. The president said she would ask for governments to propose two candidates to pick from, a man and a woman.
Ms von der Leyen said she was “very grateful” for the support of the Greens, who she had “intense” negotiations with on policy in the run up to the vote. “Our democracy is under attack from inside and outside, therefore it is crucial that the democratic forces stand together,” she said.
Ciaran Mullooly, the Independent Ireland MEP who sits in the Renew group with Fianna Fáil, decided to vote against Ms von der Leyen, meaning 10 of Ireland’s 14 MEPs did not support the commission president.
The others who voted against her include the four Fianna Fáil MEPs, Barry Andrews, Barry Cowen, Billy Kelleher and Cynthia Ní MhurchÚ. Labour’s Aodhán Ó Ríordáin, independents Michael McNamara and Luke Ming Flanagan, and the two Sinn Féin MEPs, Lynn Boylan and Kathleen Funchion also voted against Ms von der Leyen. The four Fine Gael MEPs – Nina Carberry, Regina Doherty, Seán Kelly and Maria Walsh – voted in her favour.
Five years ago when she was first elected as head of the commission, the powerful executive arm of the EU, Ms von der Leyen scraped through the parliament vote by a margin of just nine votes.
- Sign up for push alerts and have the best news, analysis and comment delivered directly to your phone
- Join The Irish Times on WhatsApp and stay up to date
- Listen to our Inside Politics podcast for the best political chat and analysis
