EU lawmakers to vote on commission in final hurdle for von der Leyen
European Union (EU) lawmakers are expected to sign off on the new European Commission with a final vote on Wednesday in the European Parliament in Strasbourg.
Incoming commission president Ursula von der Leyen, herself elected in July, has faced an uphill struggle in recent weeks to finalise her team of top officials, each to take on a policy portfolio for the next five-year EU executive term.
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Von der Leyen’s start in office was already delayed by one month following the rejection of three European commissioner candidates, but she now looks set to take over from incumbent president Jean-Claude Juncker on Sunday.
She is to address EU lawmakers, who already approved each commissioner candidate individually after hearings, before the vote.
Von der Leyen only needs a simple majority of votes cast by the 751 lawmakers to make it over the final hurdle.
The Green parliamentary group and the hard left GUE/NGL group have said they won’t vote for her new commission.
She has ambitious plans for her term, but decision-making in the European Union is notoriously slow and forging consensus can be painstaking.
Her goal of a totally gender-balanced EU executive top team already fell to the wayside in the tussle between EU lawmakers and member states to appoint European commissioners.
