Commend European vote to Lords, initially (5)
I believe the answer is:
extol
'commend' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'european vote to lords initially' is the wordplay.
'european' becomes 'E' (abbreviation e.g. EU).
'vote' becomes 'x' (how votes are marked).
'initially' says to take the initial letters.
The initial letter of 'lords' is 'l'.
'e'+'x'+'to'+'l'='EXTOL'
(Other definitions for extol that I've seen before include "Applaud" , "Lavishly praise" , "'Praise, glorify (5)'" , "Sing the praises of" , "Speak well of" .)