The European Parliament (EP) has approved the appointment of incumbent European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen for the second term.

The vote was held at a plenary session of the new European Parliament in Strasbourg on Thursday, following a long discussion of her candidacy.

The decision was backed by 401 MEPs, while 284 voted against it, 15 abstained from voting, and seven ballots were recognized as invalid. A total of 707 MEPs took part in the vote. Having announced the results, EP President Roberta Metsola invited von der Leyen to form a new commission.

Von der Leyen was nominated by the European People's Party and her candidacy was approved by the heads of state and government leaders of the European Union at a meeting of the European Council on June 28. The same decision approved former Prime Minister of Portugal Antonio Costa as President of the European Council and incumbent Prime Minister of Estonia Kaja Kallas as the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.