German Chancellor Angela Merkel, right, hands flowers to the newly elected European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. (Michael Sohn/AP)The European Parliament on Tuesday voted to confirm Ursula von der Leyen, Germany’s defense minister and a longtime ally of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, as the next president of the European Commission. The European Parliament asserted that its Pan-European “Europarties” should put forward candidates and that voters should choose between them in the European Parliament elections. In the end, however, enough of them capitulated for von der Leyen to eke out a narrow victory. But the coalition von der Leyen relied on to win has cast a cloud over her victory.

Source: Washington Post July 17, 2019 14:09 UTC