Summer Top10: Ursula von der Leyen: round two

08/14/24 • 14 min

Ursula von der Leyen convinced 401 members of the European Parliament to vote in her favour, out of 707. This time, she was re-elected as Commission President with a 41-vote lead, emerging from the first plenary with a stronger mandate.

Before the vote, von der Leyen delivered a lengthy speech reaching out to centrist and left-wing parties, while excluding the far-right. She outlined the priorities for her next mandate, appearing more confident than ever, but also raising some questions.

To break down what happened during the vote for the President of the European Commission, we are joined by our politics editor Aurélie Pugnet.

To break down what happened during the vote for the President of the European Commission, we are joined by our politics editor Aurélie Pugnet.

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Summer Top10: What do the UK elections mean for the EU?

UK citizens head to the polls today for a general election widely expected to end the 14 years of Conservative rule and return the Labour Party to power, prompting questions about what it will mean for the EU-UK relations and why - while Europe is shifting to the right - the UK is turning left.

To understand the implications of the vote, the major players, and the European consequences, we're joined in the studio by Catherine Feore, Euractiv’s editor, with insights from Mathew Nicolson, Europe Elects deputy team leader and UK correspondent.

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Summer Top10: Why authoritarian leaders are on the rise, according to the latest UN report

Around the globe, the number of citizens who show unwavering support for democracy is on the rise but there are also more and more of those voting for leaders who may undermine democracy.

Today, for the first time ever, more than half of the global population supports such leaders. We spoke to United Nations Development Programme's Pedro Conceiçao and Euractiv's politics hub editor Aurelie Pugnet to zoom in on the implications for the upcoming European Union elections.