Ursula von der Leyen was elected to a second term as European Commission president, winning a landslide victory in the European Parliament as mainstream lawmakers united against anti-EU and far-right forces.
The Strasbourg parliament erupted in applause when it became clear that von der Leyen, the first woman to lead the European Commission, had cleared the hurdle by 41 votes, a stronger margin than when she was first elected in 2019.
The German Christian Democrat will head the EU’s legislative and executive body until 2029.
“Words cannot express how grateful I am for the trust of all MEPs who voted for me,” she tweeted minutes after the election results.
The win cements von der Leyen’s status as one of the most important presidents in the 67-year history of the European project. She has been praised for her clear and early support for Ukraine, as well as her pioneering response to the pandemic, which led to the joint purchase of vaccines and the first-ever joint borrowing with the creation of the Coronavirus Recovery Fund.
But she has also been criticized for relying too heavily on a small group of advisers and avoiding oversight. On Wednesday, the European Court of Justice ruled that her commission had not given the public “sufficiently wide access” to coronavirus vaccine purchasing contracts.
To address those concerns, von der Leyen on Thursday promised “greater transparency, greater accountability” and more frequent visits to parliament.
Speaking on the Strasbourg parliamentary floor, she appealed for support from “all the democratic forces in this parliament” and outlined her wide-ranging priorities for a second term.
“I will never accept that demagogues and extremists will destroy the European way of life,” she said.
The rise of the far-right in recent elections, combined with international turmoil, helps explain why von der Leyen was re-elected with more votes than she received in 2019.
In the end, 401 MEPs voted in favour, 284 against, 15 abstained and 7 votes were invalid: she needed 360 votes to be re-elected.
The result will come as a relief to EU leaders who nominated her for a second term last month after the right-wing gained ground in European elections.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz congratulated von der Leyen and said her re-election was “a clear testimony of our ability to act in the European Union, especially in difficult times.” Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said: “I’m sure you’ll do a great job. We’ll get it done together.”
Von der Leyen’s European People’s Party (EPP), the Social Democrats and the centrist Renew Group announced their intention to support her, even though some members had already said they would vote against the vote.
The Greens, who voted against von der Leyen in 2019, said they were backing her to keep the far-right out of power.
“Is this the Green policy that she presents us with? I can say no,” Green party co-leader Terry Reintke told the chamber, saying it was important for the pro-European democratic group’s majority to “prevent the far right from taking power.”
The eurosceptic European Conservatives and Reformists group, which includes Giorgia Meloni’s Italian Brothers and Poland’s Law and Justice, split. The group had planned a free vote but said a “majority” of its MEPs would oppose von der Leyen.
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Manfred Weber, leader of the European People’s Party (EPP), who has a chilly relationship with Ms von der Leyen, urged his party leaders to back her, saying: “If you want to protect democracy, vote for Ursula von der Leyen today.”
Against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine, widespread concerns about foreign interference in European elections and the possible return of Donald Trump, his comments appeared to underscore that many MEPs see this vote as more important than any other election of a European Commission president.
Jordan Bardella, leader of France’s far-right party, spoke third after the European People’s Party and the Socialist Party, highlighting the shifting balance in parliament and reflecting the fact that his Patriots group is now the third-largest force in parliament.
Shortly afterwards, a far-right nationalist Romanian MEP was ejected from the MEP chamber for heckling liberals, while a far-right Polish MEP, representing the newly formed far-right group Europe of Sovereign States, launched a scathing attack on EU migration policy – and on von der Leyen personally.
Some insiders suggest that the presence of such loud voices on the far right may have helped tilt the balance in von der Leyen’s favour by highlighting the stakes.
In an appeal to her centre-right European People’s Party (EPP), von der Leyen said competitiveness and prosperity were her top priorities and promised to “lighten the load” of EU law to help small businesses.
Supported by the Greens, Liberals and Socialists, she has vowed to adhere to the EU’s climate plan and pledged to forge a new “clean industry pact” within her first 100 days in office, decarbonising manufacturing and redirecting investment towards green technology.
She echoed the vision of French President Emmanuel Macron, promising a “true defence union” to develop common projects and proposed a European air shield to defend shared airspace.
Her platform would give the EU its first housing commissioner, though the EU has no policymaking power on housing. Still, she has promised a “European Affordable Housing Plan” to tackle the high rent and house price crisis, a key issue for the Socialist Party.
Von der Leyen reaffirmed the EU’s support for Ukraine and delivered her strongest criticism yet of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s recent visit to Moscow. “This so-called peace mission is nothing less than an appeasement mission,” she told MEPs, drawing the loudest applause of her 50-minute speech.
