Ursula Von Der Leyen elected as President of European Commission

Ursula Von Der Leyen has been elected as President of the European Commission.

Von Der Leyen will be the first female President of the Commission.

Her nomination as a compromise candidate by EU leaders as part of horse-trading has angered some politicians who had put forward their own candidates.

She needed 374 to votes to win Tuesday’s confirmation, and in the end won 383 — well short of the 420 achieved by her predecessor.

She had the declared backing of the three mainstream, pro-EU groups — the center-right European People’s Party, the Progressive Alliance of Socialists & Democrats, and the centrist-liberal Renew Europe group.

The Greens group, as well as right-wing and left-wing groups, had previously announced their intention to vote against her

“The confidence you placed in me is confidence you placed in Europe,” she said after the result was announced.

“The task ahead humbles me,” she said. “My work starts now. Let us work together constructively.”

Earlier, in a bid to win MEPs’ support, she set out her priorities for the next five years, should she be confirmed in the job.

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This is a developing story