First woman elected to lead European Commission

BRUSSELS. KAZINFORM - MEPs narrowly backed Ursula von der Leyen as the next President of the European Commission on Tuesday, making her the first woman to hold Europe’s top job, Euronews reports.

Out of the 733available votes, she needed 374 to win Tuesday's confirmation, and in the endwon 383 against 327 with 22 abstentions — well short of the 420 achieved by herpredecessor.

«Theconfidence you placed in me is confidence you placed in Europe,» she saidafter the result was announced.

«The taskahead humbles me,» she said. «My work starts now. Let us worktogether constructively.»

Earlier, in a bidto win MEPs' support, she set out her priorities for the next five years,should she be confirmed in the job.