Von der Leyen will run for a second term as president of the European Commission

The president of the European Commission (EC), Ursula von der Leyenhas been nominated by her party, the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU), candidate for a second five-year term at the head of the community Executive.

“At the federal leadership of the CDU we have unanimously proposed Ursula von der Leyen as ‘Spitzenkandidatin’ of the European People’s Party (EPP),” said the president of the CDU, Friedrich Merz, in a press conference after a meeting of the party leadership.

“I ran in 2019 because I firmly believe in Europe. “Europe is my home”Von der Leyen said at his side. “Today, five years later, I make a very thoughtful and conscious decision: I want to run for a second term,” he claimed.

“The world today is totally different from that of 2019. We have faced a lot in the last five years together and we have achieved more than we could have ever imagined,” he pointed.

Over the past five years, he said, not only has his passion for Europe grown, but so has his experience of how much it can do. Europe for its citizens.

Merz indicated that he will be involved “personally” so that Von der Leyen also receives unanimous support at the level of the parties that make up this European group at the EPP congress to be held on March 6 and 7 in Bucharest, so that He can attend the elections to the European Parliament on June 9 with a “clear position” on who should lead the election again. EC.

The German politician was confident that the balance of majorities that emerges from the European elections will allow Von der Leyen to be ratified as president of the European Commission.

In his opinion, the next community Executive will have two great challenges: the security of Europe in the midst of the Russian war in Ukraine and the prosperity of society.

Merz praised the leadership of conservative politics in recent years in the face of challenges such as the pandemic, the recession and, since two years ago, the Russian war in Ukraine.

Von der Leyen herself, whose term expires on October 31 and noted that there is a clear separation of her role as president of the EC and her role as a candidate, stated that together new paths were sought to fight against COVID-19 and as a community Europe has emerged stronger from this challenge.

Later, he said, Europe has managed to overcome a serious economic crisis by investing “massively” in a green and digital industry, to guide the European Union (EU) into the future.

“And then in the midst of the economic recovery, Russia attacked Ukraine and unleashed the biggest war in Europe since 1945. Europe reacted immediately and from day one has been on Ukraine’s side,” recapitulated Von der Leyen, who stressed that the Twenty-seven overcame the “greatest energy crisis” together and in parallel strongly promoted their independence from Russian gas.

“But there is a lot of work ahead. “We have to adapt our competitiveness to new circumstances, we have to achieve climate objectives together with companies, we must take advantage of the opportunities of artificial intelligence while linking it to the principles of the social market economy,” said.

Von der Leyen also pointed out as a program of her candidacy that Europe must also advance in digitalization to also reduce bureaucracy, implement the migration pact and together reinforce the external borders of the Old Continent and, above all, the Twenty-seven must strengthen defense capacity , thinking mainly about the industrial base.”

German politics also set out to defend Europe from those who want to divide the European Union “from within and without.”