Vote on new Commission signals EU Parliament instability and ambiguity

euronews (in English)

The European Commission was approved by the Parliament with the lowest support ever, and it’s not clear which political groups it can count on. But it is not necessarily a bad thing for Ursula von der Leyen.

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00:00It's the smallest majority ever obtained by a new European Commission, having received

00:09the green light from MEPs on Thursday with 370 votes in favour or 54% of the votes cast,

00:17282 votes against and 36 abstentions.

00:21The lack of a stable majority will thus have its implications for the next five years.

00:25There is not really a majority in the European Union today, we have a right that feels all-powerful

00:31with Ursula von der Leyen, with Manfred Weber here in the European Parliament, who thinks

00:34that one day it can turn to the far right to form alliances, in particular to destroy

00:39environmental laws, and then the next day, when things get better, to turn to the coalition

00:43of democrats and pro-European forces.

00:47The three centrist groups that formed the majority in the previous legislature could

00:51not secure more than half of the total votes.

00:55For different reasons, the centre-right EPP and the centre-left S&D have suffered significant

01:01defections.

01:02Spain's Popular Party, an EPP member with 22 MEPs, voted against the new college because

01:09it includes Spanish Vice President Teresa Rivera, a member of its rival centre-left

01:14Socialist Party.

01:17This does not mean that these groups will always be divided on legislative issues, but

01:21it makes it more likely that the Commission can align itself with the right or left of

01:25the hemicycle to pass legislation.

01:30On content, I believe that we could also find some consensus, some agreement with the Greens

01:34on the one hand, or the European Conservatives and Reformists on the other hand, but once

01:38again it's the free groups in the centre of the European Parliament, the EPP, the Socialists

01:43and the Renew Group, they need to coordinate their policies, their activities, and then

01:49we will always have roughly 370 to 400 members, and that is a majority.

01:56The vote also revealed further fractures.

01:59The ultra-conservative ECR party was split in two, with some voting for and others against

02:05the new Commission.

02:07The Commission will therefore not be able to rely on a stable majority, and will instead

02:12have to rely on changing alliances.

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