The European Parliament has decided this Thursday to appoint Luxembourgish MEP Tilly Metz, a member of the Greens group, as the institution’s new vice president, replacing Romanian Nicolae Stefanuta, who left the post after being designated co-chair of his political group.
Metz was elected in the first round of voting by obtaining 423 endorsements, compared with the 114 achieved by the Bulgarian candidate Rada Laykova, who belongs to the Europe of Sovereign Nations group, thereby exceeding the absolute majority of 269 votes required to access the vice presidency.
A total of 579 MEPs took part in the election, of whom 42 chose to abstain, so 537 valid votes were counted, according to what the Eurochamber has announced.
The Luxembourgish politician will assume the eleventh vice presidency of the European Parliament and will hold the post for the period remaining of her predecessor’s term, as the institution’s internal rules establish for filling vacancies.
The Bureau of the Parliament is made up of its president, Roberta Metsola, fourteen vice presidents, and five quaestors, and its composition must, in general terms, reflect the correlation of forces among the different political groups represented in the Chamber.
Vice presidents are elected by secret ballot and must reach the absolute majority of votes cast, while candidacies may be submitted by a political group or by at least one twentieth of the members of the European Parliament.