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Ursula von der Leyen has kicked off her campaign for another five years at the helm of the European Commission, pledging to improve the EU’s defence capabilities, improve business competitiveness and push through more green policies.
Speaking in Berlin on Monday, von der Leyen said she had made a “quite conscious and considered decision . . . to stand for a second term”.
The former German defence minister, who was considered an unlikely choice when first selected by EU leaders in 2019, has steered the bloc through the coronavirus pandemic and the outbreak of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine, forcing through overhauls of health, economic, energy and security policies.
She said the world was “completely different” now compared with when she started. “Together we have been through a lot . . . It’s not just my passion for Europe that has grown in the past five years but also my experience of how much this Europe can achieve for its people,” she said, noting how the bloc avoided a post-pandemic recession, invested heavily in digital technology and the green economy while maintaining a steadfast support for Ukraine.
“[Vladimir] Putin tried to bring us to our knees by blackmailing us with Russian oil and gas, but we stood up to him,” she said. “Together we overcame the worst energy crisis in 40 years and, in parallel, massively expanded our energy independence.
“We must adapt our competitiveness to new conditions, achieve our climate goals together with business, exploit the opportunities of AI . . . push forward digitalisation, implement the migration pact and expand Europe’s defence capabilities.”
Speaking at the Munich Security Conference over the weekend, von der Leyen said that if she stayed on for a second term, she would create a new post of defence commissioner to oversee Brussels’ support for Europe’s defence industry.
Those remarks followed an interview with the Financial Times last week where she called for more financial support to European arms manufacturers through subsidies for joint production contracts and agreements that would guarantee long-term purchases.
The strategy, modelled on her approach to producing Covid-19 vaccines during the pandemic, aims to increase output, efficiency and consolidation in the continent’s defence sector.
She has also commissioned former Italian prime minister and European Central Bank president Mario Draghi to write a report on the state of the EU’s competitiveness and proposals to improve it, as part of a pitch to member states that her second term would aim to improve the bloc’s stuttering economy through boosting its single market.
Her centre-right European People’s party leads the polls ahead of June’s European parliament elections, a forecast that if translated into results would give it the right to propose its lead candidate as the head of the next commission. If she wins the support of EU leaders, von der Leyen would then need to gain a majority of members of the new parliament to take office.
“She has the backing of the party and of the member states,” said a person briefed on the discussions around her candidacy.
Friedrich Merz, leader of von der Leyen’s party, the centre-right Christian Democratic Union, said the CDU’s executive had agreed unanimously to put her forward as the EPP’s top candidate in the June election.
Speaking alongside von der Leyen at the CDU’s headquarters, Merz offered fulsome praise for her achievements. “The fact that Europe stayed together in the difficult years [of Covid-19], that it was possible to simultaneously provide all member states with the necessary means to overcome this pandemic was to the credit of the commission, [and its president] Ursula von der Leyen,” said Merz.
Under EPP rules, as well as the backing of the CDU, the 65-year-old must also garner the support of two other national parties, which the officials said were likely to be Greece’s New Democracy and Poland’s Civic Platform.
She can then be formally anointed as the EPP’s official lead candidate for the June elections at the party’s congress on March 6-7 in Bucharest.
The nomination would end widespread speculation about her second-term ambitions among EU officials and diplomats, the majority of whom say privately that she has the political support necessary to remain in office.
Viktor Orbán, Hungary’s prime minister, is the only EU leader to have publicly suggested he was opposed to a second term. Other leaders, including Finland’s Petteri Orpo and Spain’s Pedro Sánchez — who hails from the rival socialist group — have endorsed her remaining in office.
