Member states’ nominee wins EU top job

Strasbourg, France: German defence minister Ursula von der Leyen was narrowly elected president of the European Commission on Tuesday after winning over sceptical lawmakers.

The 60-year-old conservative was nominated to become the first woman in Brussels´ top job last month by the leaders of the bloc´s 28 member states, to the annoyance of many MEPs. The Strasbourg parliament would have preferred a candidate chosen by one of its political groups, but in the end a small majority — 383 members of the 751-member assembly voted — for her. She will now replace Jean-Claude Juncker as head of the EU executive on November 1, one day after Britain is due to leave the union, and serve for a five-year mandate. “The task ahead of us humbles me.

It´s a big responsibility and my work starts now,” the polyglot mother-of-seven told lawmakers, thanking all members “who decided to vote for me today.” If von der Leyen had lost, Europe faced a summer of institutional infighting instead of preparing for Brexit, battling Italy over its debt and confronting Hungary and Poland over threats to democratic values. In a hearing before the vote, von der Leyen promised: “A climate-neutral Europe in 2015. A more social and competitive Europe. A Europe that makes use of its full potential. “A Europe that has a new push on European democracy and a strong Europe that protects our European way of life.”