The European parliament has elected a German conservative, Hans-Gert Poettering, as its new president.
Mr Poettering, a 61-year-old Christian Democrat, replaces the Spanish Socialist Josep Borrell.
He was elected under a deal by which the Socialist bloc and centre-right bloc took it in turns to share the current five-year term.
He won in the first round, with 450 votes out of the 689 counted. He defeated three rivals.
The other contenders were: Green Italian MEP Monica Frassoni, Danish Eurosceptic Jens-Peter Bonde and Francis Wurtz, a member of the European United Left group.
Mr Poettering has been a member of the parliament since it was first directly elected in 1979.
The parliament in Strasbourg formally welcomed 35 Romanian and 18 Bulgarian MEPs on Monday - bringing its total to 785 - for the first plenary session since they joined the EU on 1 January.
The new MEPs have been appointed by their national parliaments and will keep their seats until European elections in the two countries later in the year.
^ Back to top | BBC Sport Home | BBC Homepage | Contact us | Help | ©
~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~45~RS~)