Sawt Falasteen - EU parliament re-elects speaker in first vote on top jobs

Tensions are high in Europe as EU lawmakers start their five-year term, with current European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen's future on the line.

Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who has outraged his EU counterparts by visiting Russia and China, was due to address the parliament but his speech was postponed -- officially because of a busy voting schedule.

As war rages on Europe's doorstep, the bloc faces multiple challenges including a stagnant economy and growing global uncertainty, which the leaders will have to confront head-on after their election.

In the first major vote, current speaker Metsola won another two-and-a-half-year mandate after receiving 562 votes out of the 699 MEPs who took part.

Metsola belongs to the biggest political group in the parliament, the conservative European People's Party (EPP), and has been in the role since 2022.

"This must be a strong parliament in a strong union," Metsola insisted.

"We must be the ones who push the legislation that our people want and need."

She later vowed to address the problems facing EU citizens including Europe's "looming" housing crisis and promised to implement "proper" migration legislation.

"We will leave Europe a better place by creating a new security and defense framework that keeps people safe," Metsola said.

But all eyes will be on Thursday's vote when lawmakers decide whether to give von der Leyen another five years as commission chief.

- 'Needs to walk a fine line' -

Since EU leaders struck a hard-fought deal on her candidacy in late June, von der Leyen has been scrambling to win over lawmakers in the main political groups.

It could be a tight race. The polyglot German won by only nine votes in 2019.

"She needs to walk a fine line to get the support of different groups in the European Parliament," said Elizabeth Kuiper, associate director of the European Policy Centre think tank.

Von der Leyen must satisfy lawmakers who do not want the European Union to swerve from its focus on cutting carbon emissions to tackle climate change, while other MEPs want her to reduce the number of new environmental regulations.

The far right made significant gains in June elections in the 27-country bloc, although the centrist coalition made up of the EPP, the Socialists, Democrats and Liberals is still the largest.

Von der Leyen's EPP is the biggest political group in the parliament, with 188 seats, and with its coalition partners in theory has the numbers to meet the 361-vote threshold, but several MEPs have said they will vote against her in the secret ballot.

The new parliament will also vote for 14 vice presidents and its political make-up is more complex than ever, with two far-right groups boasting larger numbers.

The European Conservatives and Reformists, dominated by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's post-fascist Brothers of Italy party, already has one vice president but now wants two.

- New far-right group -

A new group known as Patriots for Europe -- created by Orban and including France's far-right National Rally -- is now parliament's third-biggest faction, vying for two vice-president spots as well.

That group includes controversial figures such as Italian general Roberto Vannacci, author of a book featuring homophobic, misogynistic and anti-migrant remarks.

The far-right Patriots are a red line for the centrist coalition.

"We don't want these MEPs to represent the institution," said EPP spokesman Pedro Lopez de Pablo, adding there were talks to stop the "extreme right and the friends of Putin" from gaining prominent positions.

Patriots MEPs could also be excluded from leading parliamentary committees next week.

Patriots spokesman, Alonso de Mendoza, argued that a "cordon sanitaire" employed by mainstream political parties to block the far right was "undemocratic".

Analyst Kuiper said the "situation is still evolving".

Z.Ramadan--SF-PST