On Tuesday (16 July), the majority of MEPs at the Strasbourg plenary agreed to support Ursula von der Leyen, a long-standing German cabinet minister, for the presidency of the European Commission.
With 383 votes in favour, just over the minimum of 374 required, von der Leyen secured a narrow majority win and will now replace incumbent Jean-Claude Juncker at the start of November.
Another 327 MEPs voted against her, from a total of 733 votes cast, with 22 absentions.
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Nikolaj joined EUobserver in 2012 and covers home affairs. He is originally from Denmark, but spent much of his life in France and in Belgium. He was awarded the King Baudouin Foundation grant for investigative journalism in 2010.