Incumbent European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced her intention to run for a second five-year term as the head of the EC on Monday afternoon, following a meeting of her party in Germany, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU)
“The world today is completely different than it was in 2019. We’ve been through a lot together over the past five years, and I think you could say we’ve accomplished more than we could ever imagine,” the EC President stated.
She continued by stressing that over her 5-year tenure, her “passion for Europe grew”, adding that this period had been both challenging and extraordinary.
The news comes following weeks of intense speculation about whether the former German Defense Minister would decide to make a bid to lead the executive body of the European Union or take the helm of NATO, as some reports had linked her with the military alliance’s top job.
Her political group, the center-right European People’s Party (EPP), is expected to affirm her bid in March during a meeting.
The Commission president is appointed at the discretion of EU leaders after taking into account the results of the European elections, meaning the party that comes on top enjoys the unwritten privilege of controlling the executive. Socialists and liberals usually divvy up the remaining top jobs among themselves
As of today, the only prime minister who might forcibly object to von der Leyen’s bid is Hungary’s Viktor Orbán, who has been under the Commission’s intense scrutiny for engineering his country’s democratic backsliding.
