In a statement, the European Parliament says it backs Juncker, a candidate of the center-right European People’s Party. The party has gained the most seats - 213 out of 751 in the recent European Parliament elections. The parliament called on the European Council to give a clear mandate to Juncker to form the required majority.

 

Meanwhile, European Union leaders met in Brussels to discuss how to propose the candidate for the European Commission president, and how to bounce back from the weekend’s landmark European elections.

 

The vote has given a boost to Eurosceptic and far-right parties, though the pro-EU bloc has retained a comfortable majority.

 

British Prime Minister David Cameron said the vote had shown Brussels needed to return many powers to its 28 member nations as soon as possible.

 

French President Francois Hollande said change is needed, but added it should not promote policies against Europe.