Von der Leyen stressed Nato’s role in defending eastern Europe, and spearheaded a multinational battle group in Lithuania as part of the alliance’s “enhanced forward presence”, and sent the Luftwaffe to patrol the Baltic states. Von der Leyen has pledged to push for majority voting on external action so that the EU can act rapidly and take its place as a “global leader”. “I want the EU to spend 30 percent more on external-action investment in the next long term EU budget,” she said, “increasing the total to €120 billion.” Which has, perhaps understandably, led British tabloids to speculate about a so-called European army. Von der Leyen has made her support for the accession of the western Balkan states clear. She praised Albanian and Northern Macedonian efforts to secure EU membership. ”We asked a lot of North Macedonia and Albania, [and] they’ve fulfilled it all,” she said. “Now we must be true to our word and start accession talks.” “I want to reaffirm the European perspective of the Western Balkans and I see an important role in the continued reform process across the region,” he said. “We share the same continent, the same history, the same culture and the same challenges. We will build the same future together.” Macron, who backed Von der Leyen’s nomination for president, is fiercely opposed to enlarging the bloc until internal reform has taken place. Headlines have highlighted her promise for a new migration package in the first half of 2020. Leaders have mooted moving beyond an aidbased approach, but Von der Leyen talks about establishing “humanitarian corridors” and emphasises human rights. She also advocates dealing with the problems of migration in the countries of origin. “People do not choose lightly to leave their homes and take a perilous journey,” she said. “They do so because they feel they have no alternative. We need to put the clear focus (on) their countries of origin. We need to invest in their health, in their education and skills, in infrastructure, sustainable growth and security.”
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She is fiercely protective of the European way of life, and her migration commissioner was originally given the portfolio title “Protecting our European Way of Life”; she later changed this. Von der Leyen has a portfolio and pedigree that bolsters her credibility for the top job in European politics. She spent her first 13 years in Brussels, where her father, German politician Ernst Albrecht, was chief of cabinet at the Commission of the European Economic Community. 42
President of the European Commission: Ursula von der Leyen
Von der Leyen studied economics at the Universities of Göttingen and Münster and the London School of Economics before switching to medicine. She graduated in 1987 from Hanover Medical School (MHH) and later lived in the US for four years, raising her children, while husband, Heiko von der Leyen, taught at Stanford University.
bedsit adjoining her office at the Commission HQ so she can focus on work. One thing is sure: with her at the helm, the World should get ready for a Europe with a lot more power. i
After returning to Germany, she joined the faculty at the MHH’s department of epidemiology and social medicine, gaining a Master’s in epidemiology in 2001. Her political rise began in 2005, when the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) won the federal elections and she was appointed Minister of Family Affairs and Youth in Chancellor Angela Merkel’s first cabinet. She served there from 2005 to 2009, and as Minister of Labour and Social Affairs from 2009 to 2013. In 2013 she became the German defence minister. When she left office in 2019, she was the only minister to have served continuously in Angela Merkel's cabinet since she became chancellor. Von der Leyden has raised eyebrows for many things — including her decision to sleep in a
Author: Naomi Snelling
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