Ursula von der Leyen wants to continue leading the European Commission.
This was communicated this Monday to the steering committee of her party, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) of Germany, which will unanimously propose her as head of the list of the European political family.
Now the European People's Party (EPP) must make her candidacy official at a congress in March.
“Europe is a home for me, as is Lower Saxony [the German state from which I come].
And when the question arose whether I could imagine becoming president of the European Commission, I said yes immediately.
Today, five years later, I make a very conscious and well-thought-out decision,” Von der Leyen declared after the meeting in Berlin.
“I would like to run for a second term and I am very grateful to the CDU for nominating me today as the main candidate for the EPP,” she added.
The election of the EPP candidate as the main candidate will take place at a party congress on March 7, in Bucharest.
Everything indicates that Von der Leyen will obtain the necessary majority of votes, among other things, because there are no known possible rival candidates.
In addition to the CDU and the CSU (the Bavarian Christian Social Party), the EPP includes formations such as the Popular Party (PP) of Spain, Forza Italia, The Republicans in France or the ÖVP of Austria.
Von der Leyen's term ends on October 31.
But after the European elections in June, the EU will have to elect again the person in charge of leading the Commission.
To be re-elected she needs the support of EU governments.
Twelve of them are led by Christian Democrats and therefore belong to Von der Leyen's political camp.
Leader in polls
Generally, the main candidate of the European political group that has obtained the best result in the elections is nominated.
So far, the EPP is clearly leading the polls, so there is a good chance that Von der Leyen could continue in office.
The former German Defense Minister became the first woman to head the European Commission in 2019. “The world today is completely different from that of 2019. We have been through a lot together in the last five years.
“We have achieved more than we could have imagined,” she explained about a few years that she called “challenging and extraordinary.”
“In these five years, not only has my passion for Europe grown, but also my experience of how much this Europe can do for its people,” he said before listing the challenges he had to face, such as the global coronavirus pandemic. covid —from which Europe emerged “strengthened as a community,” he assured— or the war in Ukraine —in which “Europe acted immediately.”
“We were on the side of Ukraine from day one,” said the head of the community Executive.
His role at the head of the European Commission was praised by CDU President Friedrich Merz, who recalled his “high reputation not only within the European Union, but also beyond Europe.”
“We are very pleased with her readiness for a new mandate in the European Commission and we will accompany this with a lot of support so that we can continue to see Ursula von der Leyen at the head of the European Commission in Europe,” Merz said.
“We took the first step this morning by unanimously proposing Von der Leyen for the nomination on March 6 and 7 in Bucharest,” she added.
It is not the first time that a president of the Commission is running for a second term.
The Portuguese José Manuel Barroso headed the community body twice and the Frenchman Jacques Delors three times.
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