Von der Leyen seeks to be 1st woman head of EU executive

STRASBOURG, July 16 

Germany’s Ursula von der Leyen on Tuesday took a step closer to becoming the first woman European Commission head after her vision of a greener, fairer and rule-based Europe won over liberal lawmakers.

Securing their support and those of the socialists on top of backing from conservatives would ensure her legitimacy and help her to tackle controversial issues such as climate change, trade and maintaining democratic norms in the 28-country bloc.

If European Parliament lawmakers reject von der Leyen, it will be a serious blow for the bloc, beset by challenges ranging from trade to Brexit and erosion of democratic norms. It would also create a headache for EU leaders who would have to come up with another candidate in a month.

“My group will support Ms von der Leyen today. We are looking forward to work intensively with her to move Europe forward. There is a lot of work ahead of us. Let’s renew Europe together!” said Dacian Ciolos, head of liberal group Renew Europe.

Von der Leyen, who this week resigned as German defence minister, needs 374 votes for an absolute majority.

The 60-year-old conservative can count on 182 votes from the conservative European People’s Party and needs to win over the 153 members of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats and the 108 from the Renew Europe liberals. — Reuters