The new European Commission is approved
And Ursula von der Leyen can at last get down to work
IT HAS NOT been the easiest of starts for Ursula von der Leyen. In July the EU’s government heads alighted on the former German defence minister as their surprise choice to run the European Commission, Brussels’s largest institution. She immediately suffered a series of reverses. The European Parliament approved her candidacy by the slimmest of margins. Of 26 proposed commissioners—one from each EU member government except for Britain, which refused to make a nomination despite having failed to Brexit—three were rejected. But on November 27th the parliament nodded through Ms von der Leyen’s commission by 461 votes to 157. It will take office on December 1st, one month later than planned.
This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline “Better late than never”
Europe November 30th 2019
- Turkey’s Syria move highlights America’s tactical nukes in Europe
- Turkey deports Islamic State fighters
- The murder of a journalist in 2017 still haunts Malta’s government
- The new European Commission is approved
- Big demonstrations in Paris over the murder of women
- Hazelnut-planting bothers the Italians
- Post-Merkel syndrome
From the November 30th 2019 edition
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