you know there isn't been a majority for it in their parliaments so you know when she said today you know we need more europe we need more coordination more harmonizer more qualified majority voting and less veto from national governments on things like tax and social policy you know this is the pro european agenda that is primarily not been driven forward by the european people's party particularly it's at the moment anyway being driven forward by by socialists and greens and others and don't forget this of course in the context of the rise of nationalist. parties who you know in some way threaten to roll back europe if not indeed to bring down the whole european edifice interestingly strangely rep and it's reminiscent of the political situation here in germany max hoffman in in strasburg so. now

has the job i think she doesn't start until november what does she do next. she's going to give a press conference later but i think today she might celebrate with a little sparkling water because that's her way to celebrate. because it's a close confident we can say that right david but alister he's obviously from the european people's party so the same party as. also the head of the foreign affairs committee and i guess on d.w. frequently i saw you hugging. earlier after a victory how do you feel. this was a very moving moment not only for us in a funny line but for many including myself i know it was a fun time now for nearly 20 years we started off political korea together in the regional parliament of the designs and and she's just a convincing european and she's a convinced european we all knew it would be close we all knew it would be a how to take which wouldn't be easy and now we can look forward there's

a lot of work now in front of us. today coming from the same region as those left on the line in need does x. and we have very very happy so tell me what the people in the you commission have to expect she's obviously very disciplined sparkling water is her way of celebrating. was a funny line is a very hard working woman she's very efficient she's extremely knowledgeable very bright and she has this. ability to grasp new political issues in-depth in a very short time. a huge advantages that she speaks for european languages fluently not only german but also english and french and she has experience some international stage not only at the european level she also as a defense secretary she got to the nato she knows a lot about transatlantic relations what does she do have to do now 1st. of all she

has a set of a new commission needs to talk to heads of government and she has announced up the next european commission should. be gender balanced and we will then have the hearings in the european parliament in september and october and if things go well we can start on the 1st of never move a new commission she won with a very small margin smaller than many today expected only 9 votes ahead of the absolute majority of 370 votes she needed what does this mean going forward for her work with the european parliament. well regarding the circumstances of the last 2 weeks. i am personally glad that she actually was elected just imagine she would have been elected it would be in a very dire situation so a majority is a majority of course this is a close majority but now she has trust and confidence of the majority of any peace and we have to talk about content we have been talking about people

a lot but now we have to walk on a program what to do in the next 5 years in the european union and the future she set out the base today during her speech and also at the hearings the different political groups thank you david mcallister you see happy member of the european peoples party here today with a back to you phil. ochs hoffman while we have you so we have a new president of the commission next as your guest was saying i have to have to select a commission who does that just doesn't. get presented with this is you know this is your finest commission of this is that these are the nominations or does she have a hand in that. no the commissioners are appointed by the different governments of the member states in the european union but. reject them or at least tell the member states this is not what we're looking for that's why one of her promises

that she will have a gender balance you can. from tomorrow will be without a defense minister. is this a good day for germany. something good particularly about that but it's certainly a very good day for germany in the sense of you know taking this top job and as i've been saying a key medical ally in the top job that's good wrangler medical anyway and means that the lines of communication clearly between berlijn and brussels going forward will be particularly good the. i'm not sure if you're asking me about the situation the defense ministry of course on the line leaving her job as defense

minister here tomorrow so she'll be. looking for somebody new to fill those shoes in anglo-american who said today that she of course wants to do that as quickly as possible it's an important job and in fact the german defense minister unlike other defense ministers has effectively have a commander in chief status over germany's military so you can't leave that post vacant for very long some names are being talked about and most particularly in spanish currently health minister it's an irony actually of found alliance career that although she's a qualified medical doctor among all her other achievements she never got the health ministry and she's been at defense instead so anyway people are already talking about names to replace and so the small cabinet reshuffle is in the offing. strassburg this 9 votes majority

is not a problem as such a small majority. if that keeps on being the majority for legislation that was enough on the law and initiate as head of the european commission and might be a problem because not everybody of those people who voted in her favor will always be on board for every piece of legislation it really depends how the other factions in the european parliament like the greens and most likely also the e.c.r. so the euro skeptics on the right wing will act going forward and i think they will probably make their decision based on what the proposition the proposed legislation is so if really makes good on her intention to have the 1st european law on climate then i would assume that a majority of the greens are on board so she will have to look for different majorities for each thing she does is not going to be as automatic as in the past where you could be sure that the social democrats and the conservatives together would provide that majority is going to be much more complicated going forward and

this is continuing a pattern that we saw we stop just with the european parliamentary elections a much more fragmented political say. well that's the reason why it's gotten so hard because the european parliament is more fragmented but you also have to deal with a rather divided you council meeting that's where the member states come together you saw how hard it was for them to find a candidate for the e.u. commission you know that the leaders propose a candidate and afterwards the e.u. parliament votes on that candidate so exactly what happened here today the environment within the european union has gotten much more complicated in the past no question about that especially with the right wing populist governments you have for example in hungary you have in poland that you have in italy and then with a divided parliament. so just to recap where we are at the revenue watching a special program here d.w. a news live from that we're covering what is now they can feel confident. on the

line germany's defense minister has now been confirmed as the european the european union next commission president of the 733 votes cast she took 383 giving her a majority of 9 she takes a job in november i were told that she is likely to celebrate with a glass. of water simon the. political correspondent she faced a lot of opposition from german social democrats people outside the country will find that our why were they so dead set against how well it is odd because obviously you know german politicians would be expected to support their woman in this top job even if not from the same party but the the reason those 16 s p d members of the european parliament been against it was because they felt that they

had very clearly promised their votes is. that the one of the so-called spits and counted on the leading candidates either and for baber of the conservatives of france to months the the social democrat would would take this job and they even though that's not written into the european treaties they had told voters well you vote in the european elections and you'll get one of these 2 men actually it should have been men for very conservative came out as the largest the largest group in the parliament and you know so they feel that that is a principle that is the key to european union democracy and they hoped that they could sort of continue to bang that drum but i think it was a vain effort because. as the european parliament clearly already rejected both both men in the job and you know a new candidate had to be brought in the rules say that the various member

governments were in a position to do that but i think it split shows it was just another split of many in the current coalition government here in berlin has created some friction it has to be said that many leading social democrats here in berlin were already saying no no we should vote for fonda lie and get this vote over the line and get on with european business and there are too many important issues like the economy like the euro like jobs like climate change things we've got to deal with that european level and you know clearly it was in a form the line is a competent person even if she's not our 1st choice so it was close but she has done it the european commission will have a new president from november president is the german defense minister said off on the line here she is thanking the european parliament for their endorsement i

feel so honored and i'm overwhelmed and i thing you for the trust you placed in me yet the trust you placed in me is confidence you placed in your of your confidence in the united and a strong europe from east to west from south to north your confidence in a europe that is ready to fight for the future rather than fighting against each other your confidence in a europe that will take the fixed challenges of our times together the task ahead of us how mobile it's me. it's a big responsibility and my work starts now i thing president saucily i think all the group leaders i thank all the members soft volume and decided to vote for me today but my message to all of you is let us

work together constructively because the endevor is a united a strong europe thank you very much thank you rejoined hoffman in strasbourg so sort of on the lines message there is let's work together this from a candidate president that nobody saw coming but nobody wanted in the 1st place and only had 9 votes majority she's got a job on the. yes but apparently she likes those kind of things she was a trailblazer in many ways in germany and will try to be a trailblazer on the level of the european commission she doesn't only have a lot on her hands because she has to work with a divided parliament and a divided european council so the institution where the member states convenes but also because the topics that are super important at the moment are very complicated climate protection for example migration and by the way we have

a press conference. at the moment here in stroudsburg where she not only said thank you but also said that the challenges talked about the challenges that lie ahead let me just quote here we need to put move forward to climate friendly europe vivid democracy we need to work on a program because you know what david mcallister the member of the european peoples party we talked to earlier said is very true we just talked about people so far generally speaking of course there was a little program to convince the european parliamentarians but now it really gets serious the hard start parts at the hard part starts now for the next 5 years and now she's got the job what happens that she issues some sort of. some sort of proclamation saying these are the priorities of my commission oversee did i whom does the initiation of the member states. member states initiate who goes to that commission that could be complicated in the case for example of italy where

you have a government between the right wing populist of the league and well the undefinable really left wing and left wingers of the 5 star movement so whom they are going to send over is is really not clear at the moment but. the most important thing right now over the summer is to get up to speed on the different topics the european union has so many different levels and layers and policies and programs and and fundings and all that she knows she needs to know all of those. possible better than her college of commissioners and you could see that her learning curve in the last week was already very steep all last week and some of the hearings she was extremely vague and it didn't appear that she was being extremely vague on purpose it just seemed like you know she was still learning and not quite there yet and there was much better from a knowledge of poor.