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European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced her campaign for a second term on Monday, saying her passion for the European Union had grown during her time in office.
“In the last five years, my passion for Europe has not only increased, but also, of course, my experience of how much this Europe can achieve for its people,” said the German politician.
His remarks came shortly after the executive committee of Germany’s centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), which he leads, unanimously endorsed his candidacy for re-election in Brussels.
Ms von der Leyen recalled that when she was offered the position of leading the European Commission five years ago, she instinctively said yes.
But five years later, she had made a “very conscious and considered decision” to campaign for the position.
“I would like to run for a second term,” he said.
Ms von der Leyen cited combating the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic and promoting investment in clean and digital industries as among the successes of her first term.
“We have focused Europe on the future and the challenges ahead,” she said.
Ms von der Leyen was elected to the European Union (EU) position in 2019, becoming the first woman to lead the European Union’s executive branch. In this role, she will be responsible for around 32,000 EU staff and much of the bloc’s political agenda.
As President of the European Commission, she often represents the Commission at almost all major international summits, such as the G7 and G20. US magazine Forbes recently named von der Leyen the “world’s most powerful woman.”
Ms von der Leyen’s four years at the helm of the European Commission were marked by the Ukraine war and the coronavirus pandemic, in which the EU provided deadly military aid for the first time in its history.
She also wields significant influence over EU trade, competition and environmental policy, and supports efforts to make the EU climate neutral by 2050.
Before becoming European Commission president, von der Leyen held cabinet positions under former German Chancellor Angela Merkel, including on family, labor and defense.
In Brussels, she is a member of the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP). Ms von der Leyen, 65, is widely expected to be selected as the EPP’s frontrunner for the next election at the EPP party convention on March 7, but it remains to be seen whether she will be her opponent. It remains unclear.
The EPP also includes the Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP), former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s Italia Forward (Forza Italia), and Spain’s conservative People’s Party (PP).
Some members of the European Parliament remain skeptical of Ms. von der Leyen, in part because she was the first European candidate to win elections in 2019, even though she had never stood as a front-runner in European elections. He was nominated for the post by the leaders of
Ms von der Leyen, a trained doctor and mother of seven children, was relatively unknown outside Germany when she rose to the top job in 2019. She was once considered a potential successor to Chancellor Angela Merkel in Germany.
She is famously a workaholic and is known to sleep at the commission’s headquarters in Brussels, rather than renting an apartment like her predecessors.
Von der Leyen’s future campaign will focus on promoting the EU’s economic competitiveness and a more cooperative EU defense policy, sources told dpa.
She recently took steps that could crack down on low-cost electric cars made in China that are said to receive hefty state subsidies.
At last weekend’s Munich Security Conference, she declared that if she remained in office, she would appoint an EU commissioner for defense.
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