Von der Leyen wins re-election following heated debate

The European Parliament’s newly-elected 720 lawmakers are converging on Strasbourg for their opening plenary.

There are two new far-right groups – the 25-strong Europe of Sovereign Nations, and the 84 MEPs of Patriots for Europe – who, alongside the European Conservatives and Reformists, now constitute more than a quarter of the chamber.

The centrist parties that have long held sway will be tested, as they take a series of critical decisions.

Maltese incumbent Roberta Metsola was on Tuesday (16 July) re-appointed as Parliament President in a landslide vote.

Far-right candidates bidding to become vice-president were also voted down on Tuesday as part of centrist parties’ coordinated efforts to build a firewall against the radical right-wing. But the hard-right European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni did manage to secure two vice-presidents.

MEPs yesterday (17 July) declared their continuing support for war-torn Ukraine, after Viktor Orbán’s self-proclaimed “peace mission” to China and Russia.

They have denied Orbán the chance to address the assembly, although a planned exchange of views with Council President Charles Michel – the pretext for keeping Orbán out – has now also apparently been scrapped.

The session culminated with today’s (18 July) hotly anticipated vote on whether Ursula von der Leyen should be confirmed as president of the European Commission for a second term.

Von der Leyen has won by 401 votes, thanks to strong backing from her European People’s Party with allies in Socialists and the Liberals, and help from the Greens’ 53 MEPs.

Follow all the action from behind the scenes, and on the floor of the Parliament, here.