Slovak Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini (Smer-SD) welcomes the election of Ursula von der Leyen as the President of the new European Commission and voiced hope that the current Slovak European Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič would acquire a strong portfolio in the new Commission. The nomination of von der Leyen put forth by the European Council and its approval by the majority in the European Parliament is the result of compromise between member states and political factions, said Pellegrini. The Government Office also added that Slovakia is ready to take an active part in the realisation of the new European Commission's priorities, presented by its new President in the European Parliament.
Parliamentary Chairman Andrej Danko (Slovak National Party/SNS) hopes that Ursula von der Leyen will become a useful addition to the European Commission. The Slovak National Party, led by Danko, received news of von der Leyen's election without emotion. Only time will tell whether world leaders will take Ursula von der Leyen seriously as a political partner, think members of the Slovak National Party.
"She wasn't an ideal candidate for Progressive Slovakia, but her programme convinced us that she might move the EU forward," stated MEP and non-parliamentary Progressive Slovakia vice-chair Michal Šimečka. Šimečka added that the party remained disappointed at the non-transparent fashion in which von der Leyen was picked to head the Commission as well as the fact that Central and Eastern European countries would not receive any of the top EU posts.
Ursule von der Leyen, who has been Germany's Defence Minister, was approved as the new President of the European Commission as the first woman to serve in this post on Tuesday. Her nomination was approved by MEPs in Tuesday's secret ballot, with 383 MEPs voting in favour of von der Leyen, 327 voting against and 22 abstaining. Hence, the new President passed only with a narrow margin of nine votes. As the next step, von der Leyen will work on the makeup of the entire commission and she said that she requires half of the candidates to be women.
