Ursula von der Leyen received the vote of the European Parliament on Thursday, which entrusted her with a new 5-year mandate at the helm of the European Commission.
401 votes in favor, 284 against, 15 abstentions, and 7 invalid votes – this is today’s result from Strasbourg.
Despite numerous challenges related to integrity issues, Ursula von der Leyen retains her position as a result of agreements between the three pro-European parties: EPP (the conservatives), S&D (the socialists), and Renew Europe.
Moreover, the decision of the 53 members of the Greens/EFA group, taken through a closed-door vote during a meeting, has strengthened von der Leyen's position.
Ursula von der Leyen, 65 years old, presented her plans for a second term in a speech delivered on Thursday morning.
Unfortunately, during today's debates, Romanian MEP Diana Șoșoacă caused a scandal as usual and was expelled from the European Parliament session with screams, icons, and a muzzle (Video)
It is worth mentioning that yesterday a higher EU court ruled that the European executive was not transparent enough with the public regarding the contracts for the Covid-19 vaccine. This is just one of the legal cases related to PfizerGate, the scandal that also involves - now deleted messages - exchanged between von der Leyen and Pfizer's CEO, Albert Bourla, allegedly concerning vaccine negotiations.
The European Parliament has never rejected a candidate for the position of President of the European Commission since the Lisbon Treaty of 2009 granted MEPs more power over the future head of the EC. And it did not do so now.