Ms von der Leyen, a German defence minister, appears to have managed to convince enough members of the European Parliament to become the first woman head of the Brussels-based executive. She has seemingly managed to secure the last-minute support of social democrat MEPs moments ahead of the ballot opening. Express.co.uk understands that Ms von der Leyen, 60, is expected now to secure more than the 374 votes required for an absolute majority in the Parliament.
Ms von der Leyen was named as EU leaders’ nomination to replace Jean-Claude Juncker after nearly 50 hours of backroom meetings.
The surprise decision sparked fury amongst MEPs when their preferred candidates were discarded.
After delivering her final pitch to MEPs in Strasbourg this morning in a last ditch attempt to secure their backing, support begun to flood in from undeclared political groups for the 60-year-old.
She looks set to secure well over 400 votes now as the European People’s Party, Renew Europe and Socialists & Democrats groups pledged their support.
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Renew Europe leader Dacian Ciolos said: “My group will support Ms von der Leyen today.
“We are looking forward to working intensively with her to move Europe forward. There is a lot of work ahead. Let’s renew Europe together!”
The non-attached Five Star Movement, part of Italy’s coalition government, have also publicly declared their support.
Tiziana Beghin, head of the Five Star Movement delegation, said: “Von Der Leyen, after our meeting last Thursday, you embraced the main points of our programme and guaranteed that you will commit to ensuring a fair minimum wage in Europe, a new pact on migration, ambitious reforms for the climate and to finally guarantee legislative powers to the European Parliament.
“For these reasons, Five Star Movement intends to support your candidature, but every day of the next 5 years, you will have to prove that you are worthy of this trust.”
Ms von der Leyen is expected to secure between 415 and 435 votes, according to an Express.co.uk analysis.
The European Greens have vowed to oppose the German’s candidacy after she failed to convince the group’s MEPs that she is ready to deliver a substantial plan to fight climate change.
Britain’s 17 Liberal Democrat MEPs and the 10 members of Labour have all said they will support Ms von Der Leyen.
The Brexit Party, who are the joint largest delegation, will vote against the German in the ballot.
Matthew Patten, a Brexit MEP, said: “”What we saw this morning was a naked grab for more Europe, which was centralising powers away from national governments.
“So we had a pledge for a new capital market, a European green bank, a Green deal for Europe, a foreign policy by qualified majority voting which is only one step away from a European army. And the theme all the way through was the world needs more Europe, now we know from Britain’s point of view that 17.4 million people said the last thing we need is more Europe.
“From what Ursula von der Leyen had to say this morning from her rather desperate plea to MEPs in the chamber was to create a new European army and change decisions on foreign policy from veto to Qualifed Majority Voting.
“It is absolutely essential that the very next thing we hear from the two Conservative candidates to be the next PM is that they want absolutely no part of that whatsoever.”
This morning, Ms von der Leyen pledged to deliver a new EU carbon border tax, carbon neutrality by 2050 and a green investment package within her first 100 days in office.
In a last-ditch effort for support, she promised to fight anti-Brussels forces if handed the top job.
She said: “Anyone who wishes to help Europe will find in me a passionate fighter by their side.
“Anyone seeking to split and destroy our values will find a fierce opponent”.
The result of the vote are expected to be announced at around 7.30pm local time in Strasbourg.