Pro-Europeans hail von der Leyen win as rebuff to extremism

Greens emerge as kingmakers as von der Leyen vows to keep the centrist coalition strong.

Transcript

00:00The election of Ursula von der Leyen was celebrated by Christian Democrats, Socialists and Liberals

00:06on Thursday.

00:07The three European political families negotiated her appointment as President of the Commission.

00:13Each of them sees their priorities represented in the President-elect's program.

00:18We want to keep our fight against the climate change and really listen today that we cannot

00:26come back against the Green Deal.

00:29It's a key issue.

00:31Of course, everything that von der Leyen presented as a social dimension was part of our agenda,

00:38was part of our key demands.

00:41The support of the Greens, who appreciated the promise to keep the Green Deal on track,

00:45may have had a decisive impact on the outcome of the vote, which was a secret ballot.

00:50The approximately 40 Green MEPs who supported her allowed von der Leyen to exceed the minimum

00:55threshold of 360 votes in favour, giving a majority made up of four groups, therefore

01:02expanded to the left and not to the right, as some had thought before the vote.

01:25The votes were aligned to the majority of their group, that is, the European Conservatives

01:30and Reformists, voting against the re-election of Ursula von der Leyen.

01:34Well, it's clear that this attempt that there was in the end to bring on board the Greens

01:41further unbalanced the narrative of Ursula von der Leyen.

01:46The fact that Ursula von der Leyen got involved in the biggest defeats of the last European

01:51elections tells us that something didn't work, and that's why we couldn't vote in favour.

01:58The other two radical right groups, Patriots for Europe and Europe of Sovereign Nations,

02:03also voted against von der Leyen, but so did the left, with some of its parties criticising

02:08military support for Ukraine.

02:10The speech of von der Leyen was a speech from a book of dreams without content.

02:16The MEPs of the Free Alliance for Europe, a group that teams up with the Greens in the

02:23European Parliament and represents mostly stateless European nations like Catalonia,

02:47also voted against von der Leyen.

02:53The MEPs of the Free Alliance for Europe, a group that teams up with the Greens in the

02:55European Parliament and represents mostly stateless European nations like Catalonia,

02:57also voted against von der Leyen.