European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announces bid for 2nd term

By Anadolu staff

BERLIN (AA) - European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Monday announced her candidacy for a second term, after receiving the backing of her party.

“I’ve made a very conscious, and well-considered decision to run for a second term, I’m very grateful to the Christian Democratic Union,” von der Leyen told a news conference in Berlin.

Friedrich Merz, leader of the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), said the party’s board unanimously decided to nominate von der Leyen as their top candidate for the European elections in June.

“We are very grateful to Ursula von der Leyen for the work she has done in Brussels over the past five years, which have been very challenging times,” he said, and praised her leadership in overcoming the coronavirus crisis, and economic setbacks in the EU.

The European People's Party (EPP), an umbrella group of European conservative parties, will vote next month in Bucharest, Romania, on whether von der Leyen will run as their lead candidate for the European elections..

The CDU is one of the largest parties within the EPP group.

The new EU Commission president will be elected after the European elections in June. As a rule, the lead candidate of a European party family, that performed best in the European elections, is nominated. Recent surveys show that EPP is clearly ahead of its rival, the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D).

Following European elections, the nominated European Commission president has to win an absolute majority at the European Parliament to officially assume the office.