Strasbourg (The Brussels Morning Newspaper) – The European Parliament re-elected Ursula von der Leyen for another five years as European Commission president.
How did Ursula von der Leyen secure her second EU presidency term?
Ursula von der Leyen has been re-elected as president of the European Commission in a make-or-break vote on Thursday that characterised the single greatest test of her political legacy, generated across a succession of crises that have ruffled the bloc’s foundations.
Following a vote in the European Parliament, the incumbent obtained 401 votes in favour and 284 against, a large majority to back her second five-year term. The last time she encountered the hemicycle, she made it through with a razor-thin margin of nine votes. “The last five years have shown what we can do together,” she said. “Let us do it again. Let us choose strength. Let us choose leadership.”
Why was Ursula von der Leyen’s reelection widely expected?
Her reelection was not sure but widely expected after she was proposed by EU leaders and could depend on the support of her centre-right European People’s Party (EPP), as well as the centre-left Socialist and Democrats (S&D) and liberal Renew blocs. In its gathering in Strasbourg, the S&D Group decided to give a favourable voting indication vote on the next EU Commission President.Â
Iratxe GarcĂa PĂ©rez, S&D Group leader, said: “We have made the Commission’s Political Guidelines the most social and the greenest ever. With our demands, we shaped the chapter on the social dimension and we achieved a clear commitment not to cooperate with the far right, in the fight against climate change, and a just transition.
What are Ursula von der Leyen’s key priorities for her second term?
Earlier on Thursday, von der Leyen issued a 31-page policy proposal, summarising her preferences if she won a second term. Repeating remarks she made after last month’s vote, she emphasised “it is essential that the democratic centre in Europe holds” in the face of resurgent extremes, calling on mainstream players to “live up to the scale of the concerns and the challenges that people face in their lives.”
Von der Leyen vowed to “turbo charge investment” needed by cash-strapped EU governments for their “green, digital and social transition.”Â
How does Ursula von der Leyen plan to address EU defence and security challenges?
She also promised to create a European Defense Union and establish a commissioner for defence, a new role for the bloc that was forged in peacetime but has since had to react to Russia’s brutal war in Ukraine, and the prospect of a Donald Trump-led United States withdrawing from the world stage.
Under the suggested new defence union, member states will retain responsibility for their troops, but will operate more closely with others to “coordinate actions to strengthen the defence industrial base.” She also offered a Europe-wide air defence system and cyber protection measures. Speaking in Strasbourg before her reelection, von der Leyen expressed Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s recent trip to Moscow to encounter Russian President Vladimir Putin was “an appeasement mission,” and pledged to maintain EU support for Ukraine.
