EU Parliament Approves Von Der Leyen
But the majority in favor of the German political woman is weaker
The European Union Parliament approved the second mandate of Ursula von der Leyen and her Commission on November 27.
The Strasbourg plenary approved the draft with 370 votes in favor, 282 against, and 36 abstentions (688 voters out of 719 members), with the overall loss of consensus after the opening in favor of the right. On July 18, von der Leyen was re-elected president of the Commission with 401 votes in favor: today, after opening the ECR to conservatives, she received 31 fewer votes.
Von der Leyen identified “freedom” as a key value that should guide the European Union: “Because the fight for freedom unites us Europeans. Our past and our present. Our peoples and our generations. For me, this is the reason for existence of our Union, and it remains as much a driving force today as ever.”
Thanking the MEPs for their trust, she explained the macro-objectives of the new executive committee: “The leitmotif will be based on the three pillars of the Draghi report. First, the innovation gap with the United States and China needs to be narrowed. The second is an overall plan for decarbonization and competitiveness. The third is to increase safety and reduce dependencies.”
Von der Leyen then outlined the seven points of focus for the next 100 days: Clean Industry Deal, White Paper on European Defense, Artificial Intelligence Factories Initiative, Cybersecurity Action Plan for Health Infrastructure, Agriculture and Food Vision, Enlargement Policy Reviews, and Youth Policy Dialogues.
