First woman nominated to head top EU body

STRASBOURG: European Union leaders on Tuesday nominated German defence minister Ursula von der Leyen to become the new president of the bloc’s powerful executive arm, the European Commission, one of two women named to top EU posts for the first time.
Von der Leyen, will seek support in the EU parliament on Wednesday hoping to secure the confirmation that she will need in two weeks’ time. Von der Leyen, a close ally of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, is due to replace Jean-Claude Juncker as president of the EC and France’s Christine Lagarde will head the European Central Bank.
Leaders hope the decision to put two women at the top of EU decision-making for the first time will send a positive message and repair damage wrought by such a fractious summit, diplomats said. The discord echoed a wider fracturing of the EU’s political centre that was evident in May’s elections to the parliament, which delivered a more fragmented assembly with bigger farright and far-left contingents. Von der Leyen needs to be confirmed in her new job by an absolute majority of the 751 EU lawmakers.