Greens To Back VdL In Presidency Vote

The environmentalist/regionalist Green-European Free Alliance (G-EFA) group will offer its backing to Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in the European Parliament vote to confirm her for a second term, set to take place imminently. The backing of the Green groupwould likely prove enough to put VdL over the 361-majority threshold.

• The G-EFA official X account posts: "The Greens/EFA Group has formally decided to support Ursula von der Leyen as Commission President. As part of the 4-party majority, we have secured commitments on the EU Green Deal, making the EU more socially fair & protecting democracy. We keep the far-right out of power."
• Comes as Italy's La Stampa reporting that Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's conservative Brothers of Italy (FdI) will only reveal whether it backed or opposed Commission President Ursula von der Leyen for another term after the outcome of the vote has been revealed. La Stampa's Marco Bresolin: "So if von der Leyen is elected with a few margin votes they will be able to say they were decisive. Otherwise, another narrative will be found,"
• Politico reports that at a brief meeting of the European Conservatives and Reformists, in which FdI is the largest party: "Sources outside the room tell us that the 24 MEPs from Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy will either vote in favor or abstain. It sounds like large swathes of the group are against."
• Livestream of the vote can be found here.