EU PRESIDENT URSULA VON DER LEYEN HAILS ‘EMOTIONAL MOMENT’ AFTER REELECTION

Thu 18 July 2024:

Ursula von der Leyen on Thursday won support from lawmakers for a second term as the president of European Commission, the executive arm of the EU.

The 720-member European Parliament approved her candidacy in a 401-284 vote. There were 15 abstentions and seven void votes.

Von der Leyen, who led the commission through the Covid-19 pandemic and the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, will now preside over a bloc that shifted rightward after last month’s European elections, when far-right parties won a record number of seats.

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Addressing the parliament before the lunchtime vote, von der Leyen said the next five years of her term “will define Europe’s place in the world for the next five decades. It will decide whether we shape our own future or let it be shaped by events or by others.”

After the vote, von der Leyen said her reelection was “a very emotional and special moment” and that she was grateful for the trust the parliament had placed in her.

“We have spared no effort. We have navigated the most troubled waters that our union has ever faced. And we have kept the course on our long-term European goals,” she said, praising the work done under her first term.

Von der Leyen pledged to “turbo charge investment” needed by cash-strapped EU governments for their “green, digital and social transition.”

The 65-year-old conservative politician first took office as the president of the European Commission on Dec. 1, 2019.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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