Commission President

Von der Leyen is probably seeking a second term in office

Ursula von der Leyen

(Bild: AP)

Ursula von der Leyen is seeking a second term as President of the EU Commission. The CDU politician made this public herself at a meeting of the party leadership in Berlin on Monday.

The post at the head of the EU Commission must be filled after the European elections in June. As a rule, a candidate from the European party family that performs best in the European elections is appointed. So far, the EPP is clearly ahead in the polls. There is therefore a good chance that von der Leyen will be able to remain President.

No EPP opponents
The EPP candidate for the top post is to be chosen at a party congress on March 7. It is considered certain that von der Leyen will receive the necessary majority of votes there. Possible opposing candidates are not known. In addition to the ÖVP, the European party family EPP also includes the German CDU and CSU, Italy's Forza Italia and Spain's conservative People's Party PP.

Advocates for von der Leyen
North Rhine-Westphalia's CDU Minister President Hendrik Wüst and von der Leyen's predecessor Jean-Claude Juncker spoke out in favor of a second term for the German before the announcement. Wüst told the news magazine "Politico" on Monday: "Ursula von der Leyen has exercised her office in a difficult time and has given the European Union a face and a voice in the world. A second term in office would therefore be a sign of stability, which is all the more necessary now that our European values are under attack from all sides."

Ursula von der Leyen is seeking a second term as President of the EU Commission.

(Bild: AP)

Juncker told the Berlin newspaper "Tagesspiegel" on Monday that von der Leyen had done "a good job at the head of the EU Commission under the most difficult, crisis-ridden circumstances". "I would like to see her become Commission President again."

I wish she would become Commission President again.

Von der Leyens Vorgänger Jean-Claude Juncker

Criticism from within her own ranks - and from the FPÖ
However, there is also criticism of von der Leyen - even from within her own camp. CSU MEP Markus Ferber told the "Augsburger Allgemeine" newspaper on Monday: "Ms von der Leyen realized far too late that bureaucracy does not achieve climate protection, but only bully companies." In the event of her re-election, he called for a course correction: "The number one keyword is not the Green Deal (meaning the EU goal of becoming climate-neutral by 2050), but competitiveness and strengthening the internal market."

The FPÖ head of delegation in the EU Parliament, Harald Vilimsky, also reacted with displeasure to the German CDU politician's renewed candidacy. Von der Leyen had "pushed ahead with centralization in Brussels at the expense of the sovereignty of the member states like no EU Commission President before her", Vilimsky said in a press release. The liberal MEP believes that he can already identify the priorities for a second term of office for the EU Commission President: "With the EU enlargement to include the warring Ukraine, a fundamental reform of the entire Union is planned, which aims to transfer even more powers from the member states to Brussels." Von der Leyen should therefore "not be given a second chance to damage Europe".

"Most powerful woman in the world"
As President of the EU Commission, von der Leyen is the head of around 32,000 employees who, among other things, make proposals for new EU laws and monitor compliance with the European treaties. She also sits at the table for the EU at almost all major international summits such as the G7 and G20. The US magazine "Forbes" recently named her the "most powerful woman in the world" again.

Von der Leyen's time in office to date has been dominated by the coronavirus crisis and the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. During the pandemic, the EU Commission organized the joint procurement of vaccines and developed a huge recovery program for the economy.

Von der Leyen was considered the ideal candidate for the job at the head of the Commission back in 2019, at least on paper. She was born in Brussels - in 1958, when Walter Hallstein became the first and, until von der Leyen, last German to head the Commission. Von der Leyen's father, the later Minister President of Lower Saxony Ernst Albrecht, worked for this Commission. Her daughter went to the European School, which is one of the reasons why she speaks French and English well.