The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, made official yesterday in Berlin the aspiration for a second term after receiving the unanimous endorsement of her party, the German Christian Democrat CDU. If the European People’s Party (EPP) decides to support her at the March 6-7 congress in Bucharest – as seems highly likely – Von der Leyen will become Spitzenkandidatin (head of the list) for the European elections in June . There are no other candidates in sight and his desire to continue another five years in office was an open secret.
“I applied in 2019 because I firmly believe in Europe; for me it is my home,” Von der Leyen said at the press conference with CDU leader Friedrich Merz at party headquarters. “Today, five years later, I make a very thoughtful and conscious decision: I want to run for a second term. The world today is totally different from the world of 2019. (…) These five years have not only grown my passion for Europe, but also my experience of what Europe should do for its citizens”.
In 2019, Ursula von der Leyen, then Minister of Defense in the coalition government of conservatives and social democrats of her co-religionist, Chancellor Angela Merkel, was narrowly elected to chair the European Commission, after being imposed as a surprise candidate by the heads of State and Government. She became the first woman to head the Community Executive. During the mandate – which formally ends on October 31 – he has faced the covid pandemic, the formal execution of Brexit and the Russian invasion of Ukraine with all the consequences for the EU.
At 65 years old, if he repeats the position, he would face a stage in which the EU concentrates on strengthening security and increasing the military arsenal, in the face of Vladimir Putin’s Russia, which continues to wage an imminent war, and in the face of the possibility that Donald Trump be re-elected president of the United States. “We must strengthen Europe’s defense capacity, and I am thinking above all of the industrial base,” said Von der Leyen, who has in mind the establishment of a European Defense Commissioner.
Friedrich Merz, president of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), assured that he will be involved “personally” so that Von der Leyen obtains the endorsement of the EPP congress in Bucharest. Achieving this is largely due to the promise to lower the green policy further, as she has already been doing, especially in recent years, to appease the discontent of European farmers. The popular European family is the one with the most heads of state and government, and polls indicate that it will be the most voted for in the elections.
They are the leaders of the 27 member countries (the European Council) who propose to Parliament the name of a president for the Commission. Just yesterday several conservative leaders announced that they support the fact that Von der Leyen repeats: the prime ministers of Finland ( Petteri ), Sweden ( Ulf Kristersson), Latvia ( Evika Silina), Lithuania ( Ingrida Šimonyt?) and Luxembourg ( Luc Frieden), in addition to the president of Romania, Klaus Iohannis.
