Free Trial

MEPs To Vote On VdL For Commission Pres. Thurs18 July @ 1300CET

EU COMMISSION

Members of the European Parliament will vote at 1300CET (0700ET, 1200BST) on Thursday 18 July to confirm or reject the European Council's nomination of Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to serve a second five-year term in office. VdL won over EU member state heads of gov't as part of a leadership package that includes former Portuguese PM Antonio Costa as EUCO president and Estonian PM Kaja Kallas as High Rep. for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. However, her approval by a majority of the 720 MEPs is far from assured.

  • With 361 votes required for a majority (should all MEPs cast a ballot) the centrist EPP-S&D-RE alliance (401) if re-formed would see VdL elected. However, strict group discipline would be needed with very little room for centre-left S&D MEPs to vote against VdL.
  • To broaden the coalition this would require either bringing the Greens into the group - likely requiring solid committment to the Green Deal that some on the right of VdL's EPP have sought to dilute - or the conservative ECR, risking more MEPs on the left of the alliance voting against the president.
Chart 1. European Parliament Composition by Political Group

Source: European Parliament, MNI. N,b. 33 MEPs sit as unaligned non-inscrits, marked as grey.

To read the full story

Close

Why MNI

MNI is the leading provider

of intelligence and analysis on the Global Fixed Income, Foreign Exchange and Energy markets. We use an innovative combination of real-time analysis, deep fundamental research and journalism to provide unique and actionable insights for traders and investors. Our "All signal, no noise" approach drives an intelligence service that is succinct and timely, which is highly regarded by our time constrained client base.

Our Head Office is in London with offices in Chicago, Washington and Beijing, as well as an on the ground presence in other major financial centres across the world.