Poland's former prime minister Ewa Kopacz has been chosen the Vice-President of the European Parliament. 461 MEPs voted in favour of her candidacy.
Kopacz was chosen EP's Vice-President on Wednesday in Strasbourg after receiving 461 votes in her favour.
"Firstly, I would like to thank my colleagues from the Polish delegation, but also my colleagues from the EPP fraction. I would like to thank for the support and trust they gave me. After all, I'm a beginner here, it's my first tenure," Kopacz told journalists the vote.
She stressed that she was aware of the duty she will have to shoulder. "I think I will represent Poland's interest with dignity here. I will represent the interests of all Poles who took part in the May's election in such great numbers," Kopacz said.
According to the head of Civic Platform (PO) delegation Andrzej Halicki, Kopacz will be one of the most important people in this tenure of the European Parliament.
Halicki underscored the good vote result which allowed Kopacz to assume the new role, as well as that she was chosen already in the first ballot, which in his view was a reason for double satisfaction. "We are here to fix what the government sometimes neglects," he added.
Asked if the PO delegates would support another Polish candidate, Zdzisław Krasnodębski from PiS, Halicki didn't give a definitive answer. "We will go to the plenary and decide together," he said.
Krasnodębski received 169 votes which wasn't enough to secure the position. He will make another attempt in the second round on Thursday. There were 17 candidates in the first round.
Autor: gf / Źródło: TVN24 News in English, PAP