Brussels
CDU talks to Ursula von der Leyen about second term as head of the EU Commission
According to Forbes magazine, Ursula von der Leyen is the “most powerful woman in the world”
© Jean-Francois Badias / DPA
Does she want it or not? Ursula von der Leyen has long left open the question of a possible second term at the head of the EU Commission. Now there is an answer.
North Rhine-Westphalia’s CDU Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst has opted for a second term in office EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said. Former EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker also advocates for this.
The CDU board will discuss with von der Leyen this Monday in Berlin. It is expected that, among other things, it will be about running for a second term in office. It is certain that the 65-year-old CDU politician is aiming for it. She has not yet declared herself publicly. Party leader Friedrich Merz wants to inform the public together with her after the meeting.
The CDU board would have to propose von der Leyen as the candidate of the European party family EVP. The EPP’s internal nomination deadline expires this Wednesday. The former German Defense Minister von der Leyen has been President of the EU Commission since 2019. Her term ends on October 31st. The mother of seven children has a doctorate in medicine. She has also served as Federal Minister for Family Affairs, Federal Minister for Labor and Defense, and Minister for Social Affairs in Lower Saxony.
Von der Leyen’s chances are good
The position at the top 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. The EPP is clearly ahead in surveys so far. There is therefore a good chance that von der Leyen can remain president.
The election of the EPP candidate for the top post is scheduled to take place at a party congress on March 7th. It is certain that von der Leyen would receive the necessary majority of votes there. Possible opposing candidates are not known. In addition to the German CDU and CSU, the European EVP party family includes, among others, the Austrian ÖVP, the Italian Forza Italia and Spain’s conservative People’s Party PP.
Members of the European Parliament in particular are skeptical about von der Leyen. One reason is that the German was nominated for the office by the heads of state and government in 2019, even though she had not previously run as the top candidate in the European elections. In their view, the European Council violated the so-called top candidate system. This stipulates that only the parties’ top candidates should be considered as President of the EU Commission in the European elections.
For the Christian Democrats that was the CSU politician Manfred Weber. Ultimately, however, he was unable to get a majority behind him among the heads of state in the European Council.
Ampel would probably stand behind von der Leyen
It is certain that the traffic light government made up of the SPD, Greens and FDP would not oppose von der Leyen if the Christian Democrats were to become the strongest political force in the EU again in the European elections in June. The reason is, among other things, that otherwise a candidate from another EU country would be considered.
There are critical comments about von der Leyen from her own camp. The CSU MEP Markus Ferber told the “Augsburger Allgemeine”: “Ms. von der Leyen realized far too late that bureaucracy cannot achieve climate protection, but rather only snares companies.” If re-elected, he called for a course correction: “Keyword number one is not the Green Deal (meaning the EU goal of becoming climate neutral by 2050), but rather competitiveness and strengthening the internal market.”
“Forbes”: Most powerful woman in the world
As President of the EU Commission, von der Leyen is in charge 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 or G20. The US magazine “Forbes” recently named her “the most powerful woman in the world”.
Von der Leyen’s term in office so far has been shaped primarily by the Corona crisis and the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. During the pandemic, the EU Commission organized, among other things, the joint procurement of vaccines and developed a huge reconstruction program for the economy.
Von der Leyen was already considered the ideal person for the job at the top of the commission, at least on paper, in 2019. She was born in Brussels in 1958, when Walter Hallstein became the first and, until von der Leyen, the last German head of the Commission. Von der Leyen’s father, the later Lower Saxony Prime Minister Ernst Albrecht, worked for this commission. The daughter went to the European school – which is why she speaks French and English well.