dpa
Strasbourg, France
The European Parliament on Thursday re-elected Ursula von der Leyen for a second term as president of the European Commission with 401 votes in her favour.
Von der Leyen needed to get a majority of at least 361 votes in the 720-seat chamber to be re-elected in the secret ballot. The first woman to lead the EU’s executive arm, von der Leyen campaigned on her crisis management record in response to the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Von der Leyen’s successful re-election to lead the powerful commission for another five years is a signal of stability for the European Union during testing times of war and surging far-right movements.
Von der Leyen faced a tight vote - in 2019 she only secured the post by nine votes. Her majority this time is much larger at 40. In total, 284 votes were cast against von der Leyen with 15 abstentions and seven votes declared invalid.
In her speech to the European Parliament before the vote, von der Leyen pledged action on the EU’s economy and defence industry while promising to defend democracy.
Von der Leyen told EU lawmakers she was “ready to lead the fight” against extremist political forces.
The EU legislature, which now features two new far-right groups, is gathered in Strasbourg, France for the first time since the European elections that were characterized by a shift in support to the right.
The German member of the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP) trod a fine line in her speech, balancing plans to support industry and businesses with social policies like a new focus on housing.
Von der Leyen announced new EU funds to boost economic competitiveness and industrial development in clean energy technology, and pledged that the commission would address housing in the EU for the first time with the policy area added to a commissioner’s responsibilities.
Other measures included a pledge to legally enshrine a target to reduce EU carbon emissions by 90 percent by 2040, however, von der Leyen said that she would push for exemptions for so-called e-fuels in the bloc’s contested phase-out of combustion engines.
Von der Leyen also proposed to beef up the EU’s border controls and triple the number of border guards and coastguards to 30,000. She also laid out plans to bolster Europol, the EU’s law enforcement agency.
The former German defence minister also promised to establish a new commissioner for defence that will help build a “true European Defence Union” for the arms industry.
