Europe live: voting begins to decide whether Ursula von der Leyen will remain EU chief

The vote is now closed.

The paper ballots will now need to be counted.

Members of the European parliament are now putting their paper ballots into a box in the parliament chamber.

MEPs are now voting on whether to confirm Ursula von der Leyen for a second term as European Commission president.

Voting is anonymous.

The European Conservatives and Reformists group, which includes Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy and Poland’s Law and Justice, among others, will have a free vote.

“A large majority of national delegations within the ECR Group have confirmed that they would vote against Ursula von der Leyen. As in the last election of the Commission President, there will be a free vote in the ECR Group,” it said in a statement.

Renew Europe’s leader, Valérie Hayer, has posted a photo with Ursula von der Leyen, ahead of the vote.

The Greens group said it will back Ursula von der Leyen, a centre-right politician, for a second term as European Commission president.

“We keep the far-right out of power,” the group said.

The Socialists and Democrats’ Iratxe García is celebrating Ursula von der Leyen’s promise to create a housing commissioner as a win.

“The next Commission will have a commissioner for housing because we have asked for it,” she said.

The French far right National Rally’s Jordan Bardella has reiterated his group is voting against Ursula von der Leyen today.

German Green MEP Daniel Freund says he believes Ursula von der Leyen needs to do more on Hungary’s Viktor Orbán.

“When it comes to protecting the rule of law, what counts is action,” he said.

Ursula von der Leyen, who is expected to get the support of the European parliament’s mainstream groups today, has faced criticised from the Left group.

“Europe is not yours,” France Unbowed’s Manon Aubry told the Commission president.

“We are the firewall against the extreme right in Europe!” the Socialists and Democrats group said this morning.

Nicola Procaccini, the co-chair of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group from Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy, has said:

“Dear Ms von der Leyen, if your fate is in the hands of the big losers of the elections, it is clear that something is going wrong.

The ECR said earlier in the day ahead of Ursula von der Leyen’s speech that the group “will be carefully scrutinising her words and actions.”

Ursula von der Leyen spoke out against “the extreme polarisation of our societies” as she appealed to the European parliament to give her a second term as European Commission president.

MEPs will decide whether to confirm Ursula von der Leyen as Commission president in a knife-edge vote later today that will either result in another five-year mandate for the EU executive’s first female leader or tip the bloc into a summer crisis.

Addressing MEPs in the Strasbourg chamber, von der Leyen offered something for the mainstream pro-European groups she hopes will support her. In an appeal to her own centre-right European People’s party, she promised a “burden reduction” of EU law to help small businesses.

Nodding to the Greens, liberals and Socialists, she vowed to stay the course on EU climate plans, promising in her first 100 days a “new clean industrial deal” to channel investment into decarbonising manufacturing and green tech.

Under her plans, for the first time the EU would have a European commissioner in charge of housing and “European affordable housing plan” to address a crisis of high rents and unaffordable homes, a key priority for the Socialists.

She reaffirmed the EU’s support for Ukraine and issued her sternest criticism yet of Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán’s recent trip to Moscow. “This so-called peace mission was nothing but an appeasement mission,” she told MEPs, generating the biggest applause line of the 50-minute speech.

And she promised to triple the number of European border propose and coastguards to 30,000.

Read the full story here.

Good morning and welcome back to the Europe blog.

Today we will be delving into a key vote at the European parliament, as the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, seeks confirmation for a second term.

Send tips and comments to lili.bayer@theguardian.com.