Von der Leyen wins 401-strong parliamentary majority with tactical concessions, Greens support

Ursula von der Leyen was re-elected as European Commission president on Thursday (18 July), after a long speech in the European Parliament where she reached out to the centrist and left-wing parties but excluded the far-right. 

Von der Leyen convinced 401members to vote in her favour out the 707 members who participated, while 284 voted against her, 15 abstained, and seven ballots were void. The Commission president is elected via a majority vote, whereby von der Leyen needed to gather 360 seats. 

In 2019, she was elected with a nine-vote margin. This time around, with a 41 vote lead, she comes out of the Parliament with a stronger mandate.

Thursday’s final count shows that von der Leyen gathered support of almost all seats in her pro-European alliance made of the centre-right EPP, the Liberals, and Socialists, in theory accounting for 401 votes. 

Some of the party within the three groups defected, such as the German liberal FDP, as von der Leyen did not meet the conditions they asked for, and the French right-wing Les Républicains. 

Offsetting those losses, von der Leyen also got some votes from outside the alliance, most notably around 45 votes from the Greens camp – only 10 of whom voted against her, according to Euractiv’s information. This support is in turn likely to give the Greens a firmer link to, or even a spot in, the alliance. 

A couple of votes may have also emerged from the Conservatives of the hard-right ECR, though the majority of the group voted against von der Leyen. 

Her 45-minute speech – resembling the annual state of the union, also given in parliament, where the Commission president lays out the programme – aimed to satisfy the broadest appetites and the largest majority of members of the European Parliament. 

Von der Leyen talked about a housing plan for citizens, reducing regulatory burden on companies, caring for farmers’ needs, the ramp up of the defence industry production (in French), climate-policy, and so on, in a what looked like a ‘Christmas tree’ speech, peppered with buzzwords and proposals she wants to table. 

Looking to the left and centre

The speech was a clear nod to the left and centre of the hemicycle, excluding political forces further to the right of her own EPP family, in a move that could have hurt parts of the ECR she has so far kept on her good side. 

“Europe cannot control dictators and demagogues across the world, but it can choose to protect its own democracy,” she told the MEPs in a clear dig at the far-right, which now occupies around 190 seats. 

 It can also be seen as her intention to have the four major political groups working together in compromise against the extremes. 

With little surprise, she doubled-down on managing irregular migration flows to Europe and protecting the EU’s borders, mentioned appointing commissioners in charge of the Mediterranean Sea and tripling the number of border guards in Frontex, the EU border agency – heeding requests from her EPP and the Conservatives. 

The move angered some Green MEPs, such as Saskia Bricmont, who said on X: “Nothing for a more united migration policy that respects fundamental rights”.  

The French Green Mélissa Camara told Euractiv she will vote against for that reason. 

Other French Greens decided to vote against after von der Leyen said she wants to water down the regulation restricting the use of chemical products (REACH). 

For the Greens, von der Leyen is clearly still not a Green candidate. But Terry Reintke, the group co-leader, indicated she would still vote for her because of the threat of the far right. 

Von der Leyen courted the Greens with the right rhetoric on climate, and commitments where they were required, even though negotiations on the text may disappoint them considering the anti-sustainability push from the right. The Greens are likely to try and engage closely on the follow up action, to avoid disappointment.

Her shift to the left failed to convince the majority of the Conservatives of Italian Prime minister Giorgia Meloni, the group communicated. 

During the debate, the Swede Conservative Charlie Weimers told von der Leyen: “European voters have sent a very clear message, because they voted for a centre-right majority in the European Parliament, but you chose to turn to the left.” 

“You didn’t say a word about nuclear power, after five years of betting on wind power. Not a word about migrant crime, despite the inadequacy of the migration pact. This is a centre-left programme, a green programme, that we cannot accept,” he added. 

All political factions to the right of the EPP, meaning the Conservatives, the Patriots and Sovereigntists publicly criticised her programme, saying she censored them by not meeting with them, accusing her of corruption. 

[Edited by René Moerland/Zoran Radosavljevic] 

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