Ursula von der Leyen's second EU Commission has been approved by a vote in the EU Parliament on Wednesday.
Therefore, it can start work on 1 December. Here, competitiveness, security, migration and cost of living will be high on the agenda.
On the other hand, the green transition, which was the main priority for Ursula von der Leyen's first EU Commission, has slipped a bit down the list of priorities.
Prior to the vote, several political groups on the left side of the EU Parliament have criticized the fact that the EU Commission is making room for, among others, Italy's Raffaele Fitto as senior vice-president. He comes from Giorgia Meloni's right-wing nationalist party Brothers of Italy.
Also the far right in the EU Parliament voted no. This meant that the vote was surprisingly close. Ursula von der Leyen needed 361 yes votes. A total of 370 ended up voting for the EU Commission, while 282 voted against. 36 voted blank.
The vote means that Denmark's Dan Jørgensen is now finally confirmed as commissioner for energy and housing. He replaces Margrethe Vestager as Denmark's member of the EU Commission.
Energy prices must go down
As EU commissioner for energy and housing, Dan Jørgensen must, among other things, work to bring energy prices down. This was stated by the re-elected president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, prior to the vote in the EU Parliament.
- The biggest challenge for our companies is the high energy costs, said von der Leyen in the speech.
Here she emphasizes that Dan Jørgensen will be given an important task that will both help companies and households to lower energy costs:
- We have done a lot to respond to Russia's blackmail and the high inflation that followed it. But energy prices are still structurally too high, and they must come down. Dan Jørgensen has to work with that on the basis of his previous experience, said von der Leyen.
/ritzau/
