Ursula von der Leyen from the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), a German party, has been elected as President of the European Commission by the European Parliament in a vote in which her receiving 383 votes in favour, 327 against, 22 abstentions and one void vote.


The candidate nominated by the European Council to chair the European Commission will replace Jean-Claude Juncker, who has led the EU executive for the last five years. Ursula Von der Leyen will be the first woman to hold this post.


The Portuguese foreign minister has said that the government welcomes the election of Ursula Von der Leyen as president of the European Commission, stressing that her commitments “are all in the right direction”.


Ursula von der Leyen’s commitments as a candidate “indicate that she will lead a commission in the direction” that Portugal has always supported: “Greater European integration, greater capacity for Europe to respond to the needs of citizens and ensure the prosperity of our economies, ensure economic and social convergence within the European Union, defend the rule of law and the leading role of Europe in the major agendas of today’s world”, she concluded.


Portugal’s prime minister has also congratulated Ursula von der Leyen on her election as president of the European Commission and expressed the hope that she will implement the progressive strategic agenda for the European Union that she had outlined.


António Costa took the position in a post on the social network Twitter, “Congratulations to @vonderleyen for her election as President of the European Commission,” Costa’s post reads. “Looking forward to working closely with the @EU_Commission team on the implementation of the progressive #EU strategic agenda which the President committed to for the next five years.”


In another post, the prime minister stressed that the “next step” should be “the adoption of a multiannual budget that matches the ambitions of this new agenda in response to our citizens’ expectations.”


Now follows the process of the appointment of the new commissioners, who are themselves to be submitted to a vote of approval by the European Parliament in October.