EPP chooses Von der Leyen as top candidate Russia is now visiting those who paid their last respects to Navalny

Ursula von der Leyen is the official candidate of the European party family EPP for a second term as President of the European Commission.

The German CDU politician was formally installed on Thursday at a conference in the Romanian capital Bucharest. 400 EPP deputies voted in favor of Von der Leyen’s top candidacy, 89 spoke against. There were no opposing candidates.

The post of President of the European Commission must be filled after the European Parliament elections in June. As a rule, a candidate from the European party family who performs best in the European elections is appointed. So far, the Christian-conservative EPP is clearly leading in the surveys. There is therefore a good chance that Von der Leyen can remain in office.

Von der Leyen starts election campaign

In a speech at the congress, Von der Leyen mentioned the fight for peace, security, freedom and prosperity as the focus of her election campaign. “The signal from Bucharest today is that the EPP stands for Europe, for a strong, safe, peaceful, prosperous, democratic and united Europe,” the 65-year-old said.

In view of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, she emphasized that the goal was to continue helping Kiev – “as long as necessary”. Moscow ‘tried to wipe Ukraine out of the world’. She reiterated that the EPP supports the plan to create a new position of Commissioner for Defense in the future Commission.

Further at the table of the powerful?

As President of the European Commission, Von der Leyen has been in charge of around 32,000 employees since December 1, 2019, who, among other things, propose new EU laws and monitor compliance with the European Treaties. The 65-year-old also sits at the table as an EU representative at almost all major international summits such as the G7 or the G20. The American magazine Forbes recently called Von der Leyen the ‘most powerful woman in the world’.

Before moving to Brussels, von der Leyen most recently served as defense minister under then-Chancellor Angela Merkel. The mother of seven children also has a doctorate in medicine and has also served as Minister of Family Affairs, Minister of Labor and Minister of Social Affairs in Lower Saxony.

Support from Berlin is considered certain

In addition to the German CDU and CSU, the European EPP party family includes the Austrian ÖVP, the Italian Forza Italia and the Spanish conservative People’s Party PP.

To this day, it is mainly European parliamentarians who are skeptical about Von der Leyen. One reason for this is that the German was nominated for the office by the heads of state and government in 2019, even though she was not previously the top candidate of any party family for the post. From the parliamentarians’ point of view, the European Council has violated the so-called top candidate system, which stipulates that only the top candidates of the parties should be eligible for the presidency of the European Commission in the European elections.

For the Christian Democrats this was CSU politician Manfred Weber. Ultimately, however, he failed to persuade a majority of heads of state in the European Council to support his election.

It is certain that the German federal government, consisting of the SPD, the Greens and the FDP, would not oppose Von der Leyen if the Christian Democrats were to once again become the strongest political force in the EU in the European elections in June. The reason is, among other things, that otherwise a candidate from another EU country would be eligible. (yam/sda/dpa)