On July 18, Ursula von der Leyen was re-elected head of the European Commission for a second term. 401 members of the European Parliament voted for the appointment of von der Leyen, 284 against.
Points of attention
- Ursula von der Leyen was re-elected head of the EC for a second term with a margin of 117 votes.
- In the pre-election program of Ursula von der Leyen, she promised to strengthen the defense policy of the EU and promote the integration of Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia and the countries of the Western Balkans.
- Ukraine is one step closer to EU membership, according to the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.
- The majority of European deputies supported the candidacy of Ursula von der Leyen for the position of the head of the European Commission.
- The new European Commission must start work after the approval of the nominations of all commissioners, which could take several weeks.
Ursula von der Leyen has again become the head of the European Commission
At the July 18 meeting, the European Parliament re-elected Ursula von der Leyen as the head of the European Commission for a second five-year term.
The vote was secret, so it was not known until the end whether the head of the European Commission would be able to get enough support for re-appointment.
Representatives of the Eurogroup "Left" previously proposed postponing the vote for von der Leyen, referring to the decision of the EU Court regarding her role in procuring vaccines against the coronavirus. Still, the vast majority of deputies spoke against it.
In her election program, von der Leyen promised to strengthen the EU's defense policy, to introduce the positions of defense commissioners in the European Commission, to promote the integration of Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia and the countries of the Western Balkans into the EU.
She also promised to promote the competitiveness of the European Union and the integration of Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia and the countries of the Western Balkans into it.
The candidacy of Ursula von der Leyen for the position of the head of the European Commission was agreed by the EU leaders at an informal summit at the end of June, together with other top officials of the European Union.
The European Parliament has yet to approve the nominations of all commissioners for the new European Commission to begin work. It may take several weeks.
In 2019, the European Commission, for example, began work on December 1.
Ukraine is getting closer to membership in the European Union
As the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said on June 11, Ukraine could finally take all the necessary steps to start negotiations on joining the EU by the end of this month.
The Brussels politician officially announced the decision during the Conference on the Restoration of Ukraine in Berlin.
She also drew attention to Ukraine's recent approval of the reform plan, the implementation of which is a condition for the allocation of multibillion-dollar macro-financial assistance to the European Union in the coming years.
As the head of the European Commission stated, Ukraine deserves the bloc countries to start accession negotiations with it finally.
Ukraine has completed all the steps that we have identified. And that is why we believe that the EU should start accession negotiations with Ukraine by the end of this month, Ursula von der Leyen stressed.
