German defence minister seeks MEPs’ support for Commission top job

European Union governments' surprise nominee for president of the European Commission, Germany Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen, sought support in the bloc's parliament on Wednesday, hoping to secure the confirmation she will need in two weeks' time.

Under a deal reached by the 28 member governments on Tuesday after long and fraught negotiations, Von der Leyen, an ally of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, will replace Jean-Claude Juncker as head of the EU's executive Commission.

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Leaders hope the decision to put two women at the top of EU decision-making for the first time will send a positive message and repair damage to the bloc's image wrought by such a fractious summit, diplomats said.

The discord echoed a wider fracturing of the EU's political centre evident in May's elections to the European Parliament, which delivered a more fragmented assembly with bigger far-right and far-left contingents.

"In the end, we've got a package that found unanimity and that's a very important achievement," said a senior EU diplomat, who asked not to be named.

"It's the eternal compromise, but that is how we work … The parliament will make its peace with it. They'll huff and puff, as they do. But they'll back it in the end."

Yet the selection wrangles could portend difficulties ahead for Von der Leyen as she tries to marshal a strong and united EU response to issues from global warming and Brexit to trade wrangling with Washington and Iran's nuclear ambitions.

Von der Leyen needs to be confirmed in her new job by an absolute majority of the 751 EU lawmakers.

"I decided that my very first stop would be here in Strasbourg to meet the European Parliament … because here is where...