Ursula von der Leyen will lead the European Commission during the next five years after she was reelected by the members of the European Parliament, who gathered together in Strasbourg, with a narrow majority of 401 votes in favor, 284 against and 15 abstentions, and seven votes declared invalid, IPN reports, citing Caleaeuropeană.ro.
The MEPs’ knife-edge vote came after a debate of almost two and a half hours on the candidate proposed by the European Council and the new European Parliament, whose mandate began on July 16, 2024 and was in its inaugural plenary session. During and after the debate, support for von der Leyen was expressed by the most important pro-European political groups – the EPP, S&D and Renew Europe – which together have 401 seats, as well as by the Greens group.
Unlike the previous election of the president of the European Commission, in 2019, Ursula von der Leyen received more votes than five years ago, when she was elected with a narrow majority of 383 votes in favor, 327 against and 22 abstentions, the minimum majority at that time being 374 votes.
IPN reported that in June, more than 56,700 Moldovans with Romanian citizenship participated in forming the current configuration of the European Parliament at the 52 polling stations established in the Republic of Moldova. The votes cast by the Moldovans with Romanian citizenship represented about 25% of the total number of votes registered in the Romanian diaspora – 216,000 votes in total. About 54.2% of Moldovans’ votes went to the PSD-PNL. The United Right Alliance (PMP, USR and Right Force) was second at a significant distance, with about 23.6%.
