In a recent report by Politico after months of speculation, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced her bid to become the lead candidate of the center-right European People’s Party (EPP) for the upcoming European elections in June.
Von der Leyen made the announcement during a press conference at an event from her center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party in Berlin on Monday.
This puts her in prime position to snatch a second term at the helm of the EU’s powerful executive arm, focusing on a platform of increased defence spending.
The former German defense minister was instrumental in showcasing the EU’s continued support to Ukraine at it sought to fend off Russia’s full-scale invasion, with numerous trips to the country’s capital -Politico says.
The 65-year-old suggested she might run again at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday, saying that if she were to have a second term, she would increase defence spending and install a defence commissioner.
In September 2023, Jacob Kirkegaard, a senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund and the Peterson Institute for International Economics, told Euronews he expected von der Leyen to run for re-election this year based on her State of the Union speech.
« It was really a speech focused on continuing to implement the Green Deal, digitalisation, the Ukrainian EU accession process, etc., but then also dealing with the consequences of the decisions taken in her last term, » he told Euronews.
According to Le Monde a second von der Leyen commission would likely find itself with a changed political landscape. Voter surveys suggest extreme-right, anti-immigrant parties across Europe will grab more seats in European Parliament elections on June 6-9, pushing the legislature to the right. EU lawmaker Daniel Caspary of the CDU said he expected her priorities to shift, with more concessions to Europe’s farmers, though her support for Ukraine and for sanctions against Russia were likely to remain.
