The European Parliament approved in its entirety the new European Commission, which is called upon from the very first days of its mandate to answer existential questions about the future of the EU.

The new Commission was approved today by a majority of 370 votes by the plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg. 282 MEPs voted against, while 36 abstained. This is clearly a lower number of votes than those received by Ursula von der Leyen last July, when her candidacy was approved with 401 votes.

After today’s vote, the new Commission now takes office on December 1, guided by a “competitiveness compass” – as its president mentioned earlier – during the overall presentation of the members of its college before the MEPs.

This compass that will frame the work of the EU’s executive body for the next five years – on the basis of three pillars – of Mario Draghi’s famous report on the competitiveness of the European economy: a. not to remain behind in terms of innovation vis-à-vis the US and China, b. to proceed with a joint plan for decarbonisation and competitiveness, c. to increase security and reduce Europe’s dependencies.

Aiming at the Center

The political message of the President of the Commission was also clear regarding her cooperation with the European Parliament. “I will always work with the (s.s. political) center. Because we all want the best for Europe and the best for Europeans,” he said.

Half of von der Leyen’s 26 Commissioners are from the centre-right, one from the ultra-conservative Georgia Meloni group and one from the far-right.

In the face of multiple new challenges – which are expected to intensify after the assumption of power in the US by Donald Trump – Ursula von der Leyen stressed the need for “unity” which, according to her, “will be more important in today’s increasingly contested world” .

Defense spending in the foreground

He placed particular emphasis on strengthening European defense, citing the example of Russia’s defense spending which reaches 9% of its GDP, while Europe spends just 1.9%. “There is something wrong with this equation,” he said, adding that “we need a single defense market.”

At the same time, he made it clear that the goal is also to “save” the “Green Agreement”, the “landmark” of the previous Commission and which, after all, secured the support of several MEPs of the Greens’ Eurogroup.

Changes to the Terms

After presenting her new college consisting of 26 commissioners, six of whom will be executive vice-presidents, von der Leyen reiterated, moreover, that “we need to change the (European) Treaty in order to improve our Union”.

In its first 100 days, the new Commission is expected to present a new “clean industrial agreement”, a “white paper” on the future of European defense, to face the “challenges” of immigration, to reach an agreement with the countries of Mercosur of Latin America but also with Donald Trump, in order to avoid the harsh “tariffs” with which he is threatened by the newly elected American president.