Strasbourg (AFP)

The President of the European Commission, Germany's Ursula von der Leyen, on Wednesday received broad support from Parliament to give Europe a "fresh start" in the vote of investiture of deputies.

The first president of the European executive has received the approval of 461 MEPs for her team of 26 commissioners, after a shaky career since its appointment in June by heads of state and government.

157 deputies voted against and 89 abstained.

After being narrowly elected in July with a very short majority of 9 votes, Ursula von der Leyen enjoyed a comfortable margin this time.

The groups who voted for her or abstained, however, warned her that they were not giving her a "blank check," as Romanian Renewian leader Dacian Ciolos said.

The vote for the nomination was not secret, favoring discipline within the groups of a strongly renewed, more fragmented Parliament, which showed teeth during the hearings of the commissioners.

This new European executive has a record number of 12 women, against nine in the outgoing Commission Jean-Claude Juncker.

"My message is simple: let's start working," von der Leyen said in her speech before the vote. The entry into office of his Commission, scheduled for 1 December, had been delayed by one month.

Between re-examined candidates - three, an unprecedented number - a Brexit still pending and controversial portfolio titles, the delivery of the team of former Defense Minister Angela Merkel was laborious.

Speaking alternately in English, French and German, Ursula von der Leyen presented on Wednesday the portfolios of her commissioners who surrounded her in the Parliament Chamber in Strasbourg.

She focused on her priorities for the next five years, including the digital era and especially the fight against climate change, with the green deal promised for the beginning of her term.

"If we do our job well, Europe of 2050 will be the first continent in the carbon-neutral world, it will be a leading power in the digital world, it will remain the economy that best manages to ensure the balance between market and the social, it will be a leader in resolving major global issues, "she said at the end of her speech.

Some MEPs gave her a standing ovation.

German Manfred Weber, leader of the 182 elected members of the main political group (EPP, right), pledged his support to his compatriot from the EPP, recognizing Ursula von der Leyen, who was himself 'to be able to come out at the top of a' difficult 'situation.

- "Conflict of interest" -

The 154 elected Social Democrats said before the vote that they would vote "overwhelmingly" in favor of the nomination, just like the 108 Liberals Renew.

But discordant voices were heard. Thus, the five French Socialist MEPs had announced that they would abstain. "We do not sign a blank check", but "we will not go to war either," said Tuesday French MEP Raphael Glucksmann.

They thus joined the position of the Greens, supporters of abstention.

Among the hateful subjects are the designation as Commissioner for the Enlargement of a Hungarian, seen by his detractors as a support for the anti-EU positions of the government of Viktor Orban, and the French Thierry Breton, outgoing CEO of the digital society Atos, as Commissioner for the Single Market and Digital.

"The conflict of interest is inherent in your portfolio," German MEP Ska Keller tapped against the latter, adding "can not accept that as Greens".

The far left (GUE), as well as the far right, have announced a vote against. "You promised anything and everything to anyone," criticized Martin Schirdewan of the GUE group (far left), while French MEP RN (far right) Jordan Bardella pointed to a Commission "in the continuity of the previous ".

On this issue, Ursula von der Leyen said that whatever happens "the bond and friendship between our peoples are unbreakable".

Just before the vote, Parliament observed a minute of silence in memory of the 13 French soldiers killed in a helicopter crash in Mali.

© 2019 AFP