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Ursula von der Leyen

January 03, 2024

Ursula Gertrud von der Leyen (German: [ˈʊʁzula ˈɡɛʁtʁuːt fɔn dɛɐ̯ ˈlaɪən] ⓘ; née Albrecht; born 8 October 1958) is a German physician and politician serving as the 13th president of the European Commission since 2019. She served in the German federal government between 2005 and 2019, holding successive positions in Angela Merkel's cabinet, most recently as minister of defence. Von der Leyen is a member of the centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its EU affiliated group, the European People's Party (EPP).

Ursula von der Leyen
Official portrait, 2020
President of the European Commission
Assumed office
1 December 2019
First Vice-PresidentFrans Timmermans
Maroš Šefčovič
Preceded byJean-Claude Juncker
Minister of Defence
In office
17 December 2013 – 17 July 2019
ChancellorAngela Merkel
Preceded byThomas de Maizière
Succeeded byAnnegret Kramp-Karrenbauer
Minister of Labour and Social Affairs
In office
30 November 2009 – 17 December 2013
ChancellorAngela Merkel
Preceded byFranz Josef Jung
Succeeded byAndrea Nahles
Minister of Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth
In office
22 November 2005 – 30 November 2009
ChancellorAngela Merkel
Preceded byRenate Schmidt
Succeeded byKristina Schröder
Party roles
Deputy Leader of the Christian Democratic Union
In office
15 November 2010 – 22 November 2019
LeaderAngela Merkel
Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer
Preceded byChristian Wulff
Succeeded bySilvia Breher
Lower Saxony Cabinet
Minister of Social Affairs, Women and Families and Health
In office
4 March 2003 – 22 November 2005
Minister-PresidentChristian Wulff
Preceded byGitta Trauernicht
Succeeded byMechthild Ross-Luttmann
Parliamentary constituencies
Member of the Bundestag
for Lower Saxony
In office
27 October 2009 – 31 July 2019
Preceded bymulti-member district
Succeeded byIngrid Pahlmann
ConstituencyChristian Democratic Union List
Member of the
Landtag of Lower Saxony
for Lehrte
In office
4 March 2003 – 7 December 2005
Preceded byGerhard Schröder (1998)
Succeeded byDorothee Prüssner
Personal details
Born
Ursula Gertrud Albrecht

(1958-10-08) 8 October 1958 (age 65)
Ixelles, Brussels, Belgium
NationalityGerman
Political partyChristian Democratic Union
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1986)​
Children7
Parent
Relatives
Alma materUniversity of Göttingen
University of Münster
London School of Economics
Hannover Medical School (MD, MPH)
Occupation
  • Politician
  • Physician
  • Research fellow
Signature
WebsiteOfficial website

Ursula von der Leyen was born and raised in Brussels, Belgium, to German parents. Her father, Ernst Albrecht, was one of the first European civil servants. She was brought up bilingually in German and French, and moved to Germany in 1971 when her father became involved in German politics. She graduated as a physician in Hanover in 1987. After marrying fellow physician Heiko von der Leyen, she lived for four years in the United States with her family in the 1990s. After returning to Germany she became involved in local politics in the Hanover region in the late 1990s, and she served as a cabinet minister in the state government of Lower Saxony from 2003 to 2005.

In 2005, she joined the federal cabinet, first as minister of family affairs and youth from 2005 to 2009, then as minister of labour and social affairs from 2009 to 2013, and finally as minister of defence from 2013 to 2019, the first woman to serve as German defence minister.[1] When she left office she was the only minister to have served continuously in Merkel's cabinet since Merkel became chancellor. She served as a deputy leader of the CDU from 2010 to 2019, and was regarded as a leading contender to succeed Merkel as chancellor of Germany and as the favourite to become secretary general of NATO after Jens Stoltenberg. British defence secretary Michael Fallon described her in 2019 as "a star presence" in the NATO community and "the doyenne of NATO ministers for over five years."[2] In 2023, she was again regarded as the favourite to take the role.[3]

On 2 July 2019, von der Leyen was proposed by the European Council as the candidate for president of the European Commission.[4][5] She was then elected by the European Parliament on 16 July;[6][a] she took office on 1 December, becoming the first woman to hold the office. In November 2022 von der Leyen announced that her Commission would work to establish an International Criminal Tribunal for the Russian Federation.[8] She was named the most powerful woman in the world by Forbes in 2022 and 2023.[9][10]

Family and early life edit

Main article: Albrecht family

Von der Leyen was born in 1958 in Ixelles, Brussels, Belgium, where she lived until she was 13 years old. In the family, she has been known since childhood as Röschen, a diminutive of Rose.[11] Her father Ernst Albrecht worked as one of the first European civil servants from the establishment of the European Commission in 1958, first as chef de cabinet to the European commissioner for competition Hans von der Groeben in the Hallstein Commission, and then as director-general of the Directorate-General for Competition from 1967 to 1970. She attended the European School, Brussels I until the age of 13.[12]

In 1971, she relocated to Sehnde in the Hanover region after her father had become CEO of the food company Bahlsen and involved in state politics in Lower Saxony.[13] Her father served as Minister President of Lower Saxony (state prime minister) from 1976 to 1990, being re-elected in state parliament elections in 1978, 1982 and 1986.[14] In 1980 he ran for the CDU nomination for the German chancellorship, backed by CDU chairman Helmut Kohl, but narrowly missed the candidacy to fellow conservative Franz Josef Strauß (who then lost the general election to the sitting chancellor Helmut Schmidt); in the 1990 state elections Ernst Albrecht lost his office to Gerhard Schröder, who later became German chancellor.

Most of her ancestors were from the former states of Hanover and Bremen in today's northwestern Germany; she has one American great-grandmother of primarily British descent, with more distant French and Italian ancestors, and some ancestors from what is now Estonia, then part of former Russian Empire. The Albrecht family was among the hübsche ("courtly" or "genteel") families of the Electorate and Kingdom of Hanover—a state that was in a personal union with the United Kingdom—and her ancestors had been doctors, jurists and civil servants since the 17th century. Her great-great-grandfather George Alexander Albrecht moved to Bremen in the 19th century, where he became a wealthy cotton merchant, part of the Hanseatic elite and the Austro-Hungarian Consul from 1895. He married Baroness Louise Dorothea Betty von Knoop (1844–1889), a daughter of Baron Johann Ludwig von Knoop, one of the most successful entrepreneurs of the 19th century Russian Empire.[15][better source needed]

Von der Leyen's father's grandparents were the cotton merchant Carl Albrecht (1875–1952) and Mary Ladson Robertson (1883–1960), an American who descended from a planter family in Charleston, South Carolina. Her American ancestors played a significant role in the British colonization of the Americas, and she descends from many of the first English settlers of Carolina, Virginia, Pennsylvania and Barbados, and from numerous colonial governors. Among her ancestors were Carolina governors John Yeamans, James Moore, Robert Gibbes, Thomas Smith and Joseph Blake, Pennsylvania deputy governor Samuel Carpenter, and the American revolutionary and lieutenant governor of South Carolina James Ladson.[16][17][18] The Ladson family were large plantation owners and her ancestor James H. Ladson owned over 200 slaves by the time slavery in the United States was abolished; her relatives and ancestors were among the wealthiest in British North America in the 18th century, and she descends from one of the largest slave traders in the Thirteen Colonies, Joseph Wragg. Carl and Mary were the parents of Ursula von der Leyen's grandfather, the psychologist Carl Albrecht, who was known for developing a new method of meditation and for his research on mystical consciousness.[19] She is the niece of the conductor George Alexander Albrecht and a first cousin of the chief conductor of the Dutch National Opera Marc Albrecht.[20] Contrary to persistent internet rumours, the Albrecht family is not related to the owners of the supermarket chain Aldi.

 
Von der Leyen's family coat of arms

In 1986, she married physician Heiko von der Leyen, a member of the von der Leyen family that made a fortune as silk merchants and was ennobled in 1786; her husband became a professor of medicine and the CEO of a medical engineering company. She met him at a university choir in Göttingen.[21] They have seven children, born between 1987 and 1999.[22] Von der Leyen is Lutheran.[23][24]

Ursula von der Leyen is a native speaker of German and French, and speaks English fluently, having lived for a combined five years in the United Kingdom and the United States.[25] She lives with her family on a farm in Burgdorf near Hanover where they keep horses.[26] She is a keen equestrian and has been involved in competitive horseriding.[27]

Education and professional career edit

She moved to the Hanover Region in 1971 when her father entered politics to become minister-president of the state of Lower Saxony in 1976. As an economics student at the London School of Economics in the late 1970s, she lived under the name Rose Ladson, the family name of her American great-grandmother from Charleston, South Carolina. In 1977, she started studying economics at the University of Göttingen. At the height of the fear of communist terrorism in West Germany, she fled to London in 1978 after her family was told that the Red Army Faction (RAF) was planning to kidnap her due to her being the daughter of a prominent politician. She spent more than a year in hiding in London, where she lived with protection from Scotland Yard under the name Rose Ladson to avoid detection and enrolled at the London School of Economics.[28][29][30][31] A German diminutive of Rose, Röschen, had been her nickname since childhood,[32] while Ladson was the name of her American great-grandmother's family, originally from Northamptonshire. She said that she "lived more than she studied",[33] and that London was "the epitome of modernity: freedom, the joy of life, trying everything" which "gave me an inner freedom that I have kept till today".[29] She returned to Germany in 1979 but lived with a security detail at her side for several years.[34]

In 1980, she switched to studying medicine and enrolled at the Hannover Medical School, where she graduated in 1987 and acquired her medical license, specializing in women's health.[35] From 1988 to 1992, she worked as an assistant physician at the Women's Clinic of the Hannover Medical School. Upon completing her doctoral studies, she defended the thesis[36] and graduated as a Doctor of Medicine in 1991. Following the birth of twins, she was a housewife in Stanford, California, from 1992 to 1996, while her husband was a faculty member of Stanford University, returning to Germany in 1996.[37]

From 1998 to 2002, she taught at the Department of Epidemiology, Social Medicine and Health System Research at the Hannover Medical School.[citation needed] In 2001 she earned a Master of Public Health degree at the institution.[38][39][40]

Plagiarism accusations edit

In 2015, researchers collaborating at the VroniPlag Wiki reviewed von der Leyen's 1991 doctoral thesis and alleged that 43.5% of the thesis pages contained plagiarism, and in 23 cases citations were used that did not verify claims for which they were given.[41][42] Multiple notable German academics such as Gerhard Dannemann [de] and Volker Rieble [de] publicly accused von der Leyen of intended plagiarism.[43] The Hannover Medical School conducted an investigation and concluded in March 2016 that while the thesis contains plagiarism, no intention to deceive could be proven.[44][45]

The university decided not to revoke von der Leyen's medical degree.[44] Critics questioned the independence of the commission that reviewed the thesis as von der Leyen personally knew its director from joint work for an alumni association.[45] Various media outlets also criticized that the decision was nontransparent, not according to established rules, and failed to secure high academic standards.[45][46][47]

Early political career edit

Ursula von der Leyen joined the CDU in 1990, and became active in local politics in Lower Saxony in 1996, shortly after she had returned to Germany after living in California. She was a member of the committee on social policy of CDU in Lower Saxony from 1996, and also became active in the association of medical doctors in the CDU party.[48]

In the Niedersachsen Landtag, 2003–2005 edit

Ursula von der Leyen was elected to the Parliament of Lower Saxony in the 2003 state election for Lehrte, the same constituency then-Chancellor Gerhard Schröder represented from 1986 to 1998. From 2003 to 2005 she was a minister in the state government of Lower Saxony, serving in the cabinet of Christian Wulff, with responsibility for social affairs, women, family, and health.[49]

In 2003, von der Leyen was part of a group assigned by the then–opposition leader and CDU chairwoman Angela Merkel to draft alternative proposals for social welfare reform in response to Chancellor Gerhard Schröder's "Agenda 2010". The so-called Herzog Commission, named after its chairman, the former German President Roman Herzog, recommended a comprehensive package of reform proposals including, among other things, decoupling health and nursing care premiums from people's earnings and levying a monthly lump sum across the board instead.[50]

 
2005 campaign poster featuring von der Leyen

Ahead of the 2005 federal elections, Angela Merkel chose Ursula von der Leyen to cover the family and social security portfolio in her shadow cabinet.[51][52] In the negotiations to form a government following the election, von der Leyen led the CDU/CSU delegation in the working group on families; her co-chair from the SPD was Renate Schmidt.[53]

In the Bundestag, 2005–2019 edit

Minister of Family Affairs and Youth, 2005–2009 edit

In 2005, Ursula von der Leyen was appointed Federal Minister of Family Affairs and Youth in the cabinet of Angela Merkel. On the 60th anniversary of the founding of Israel, von der Leyen participated in the first joint cabinet meeting of the governments of Germany and Israel in Jerusalem in March 2008.[54]

Minister of Labour and Social Affairs, 2009–2013 edit

At the federal election of 2009, von der Leyen was elected to the Bundestag, Germany's Parliament, representing the 42nd electoral district of Hanover, alongside Edelgard Bulmahn of the Social Democrats. In the negotiations to form a coalition government following the elections, she led the CDU/CSU delegation in the working group on health policy; her co-chair from the FDP was Philipp Rösler. She was reappointed as family minister,[55] but on 30 November 2009 succeeded Franz Josef Jung as Federal Minister of Labour and Social Affairs.[56]

 
Ursula von der Leyen at a horse show in Hagen in Osnabrück, Germany, in 2013

During her time in office, von der Leyen cultivated the image of being the social conscience of the CDU[57] and helped Merkel to move the CDU into the political centre-ground.[58] In speaking out for increasing the number of childcare nurseries, for the introduction of a women's quota for listed companies' main boards, for gay marriage and a nationwide minimum wage, von der Leyen made enemies among the more traditionalist party members and won admirers on the left.[59]

Von der Leyen also lobbied for lowering the barriers to immigration for some foreign workers, in order to fight shortages of skilled workers in Germany.[60] In 2013, she concluded an agreement with the Government of the Philippines that was aimed at helping Filipino health care professionals to gain employment in Germany. A vital provision of the agreement is that the Filipino workers are to be employed on the same terms and conditions as their German counterparts.[61]

Von der Leyen was initially considered the front-runner to be nominated by the ruling CDU/CSU parties for election as President of Germany in the 2010 presidential election,[62] but Christian Wulff was eventually chosen as the parties' candidate. The news media later reported that Wulff's nomination came as a blow to Merkel, whose choice of Leyen had been blocked by the two parties' more conservative state premiers.[63]

In November 2010, von der Leyen was elected (with 85% of the votes) as one of four deputies of CDU chairwoman Merkel, serving alongside Volker Bouffier, Norbert Röttgen and Annette Schavan. Later that month, she told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper that the CDU should consider establishing a formal voting process for choosing future candidates for Chancellor.[64] In 2012, she was re-elected (with 69% of the votes) as one of Merkel's deputies as CDU chairwoman, this time serving alongside Bouffier, Julia Klöckner, Armin Laschet and Thomas Strobl.[65]

In the negotiations to form a government following the 2013 federal elections, von der Leyen led the CDU/CSU delegation in the labour policy working group, with Andrea Nahles of the SPD as her co-chair.[66]

Minister of Defence, 2013–2019 edit

 
Von der Leyen with German soldiers during a visit to the Field Marshal Rommel Barracks, Augustdorf (2014)

In December 2013, Ursula von der Leyen was appointed by Merkel as Germany's first female defence minister.[59] By placing a significant party figure such as von der Leyen at the head of the Defence Ministry, Merkel was widely seen as reinvigorating the scandal-ridden ministry's morale and prestige.[67] Until her 2019 appointment as the president of the European Commission, she was the only minister to remain with Merkel since she became chancellor in 2005.[1]

In December 2014, von der Leyen had her fingerprint cloned by a German hacker who was able to use the commercially available VeriFinger product from Neurotechnology UAB to replicate her fingerprint using photographs taken with a "standard photo camera".[68][69]

In August 2016, von der Leyen joined the World Economic Forum board of trustees.[70]

In September 2016, von der Leyen chaired the EPP Defence Ministers Meeting, which gathers EPP defence ministers ahead of meetings of the Council of the European Union.[71]

Former British Secretary of State for Defence Michael Fallon noted in 2019 that she had been "a star presence" in the NATO community and "the doyenne of NATO ministers for over five years".[2] She has faced domestic criticism for her leadership style, reliance on outside consultants, and continued gaps in military readiness.[72]

International crises edit
 
Chuck Hagel and Ursula von der Leyen at the September 2014 NATO summit in Newport, Wales

Within her first year in office, von der Leyen visited the Bundeswehr troops stationed in Afghanistan three times and oversaw the gradual withdrawal of German soldiers from the country as NATO was winding down its 13-year combat mission ISAF.[73] In September 2015, she signalled that she was open to delaying the withdrawal of 850 German soldiers from Afghanistan beyond 2016 after the Taliban's surprise seizure of the northern city of Kunduz. German forces used to be based in Kunduz as part of NATO-led ISAF and remain stationed in the north of the country.[74] She later opposed the troop withdrawal from Afghanistan.[75]

 
Von der Leyen and General Bekir Ercan Van (far left), the commander of Incirlik Air Base, who was accused of complicity in the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt

In the summer of 2014, she was instrumental in Germany's decision to resupply the Kurdish Peshmerga fighters with lethal assistance.[76] Following criticism from German officials of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's escalation of the Kurdish–Turkish conflict in August 2015, von der Leyen decided to let Germany's three-year Patriot missile batteries mission to southern Turkey lapse in January 2016 instead of seeking parliamentary approval to extend it. That same month, she participated in the first joint cabinet meeting of the governments of Germany and Turkey in Berlin.[77] By April 2016, under von der Leyen's leadership, the German Federal Armed Forces announced they would commit 65 million Euro to establish a permanent presence at Incirlik Air Base, as part of Germany's commitment to the military intervention against ISIL.[78][79][80]

At the Munich Security Conference in February 2015, von der Leyen publicly defended the German refusal to supply Ukraine with weapons. Stressing that it was necessary to remain united in Europe over Ukraine, she argued that negotiations with Russia, unlike with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant jihadists, were possible. Angela Merkel saw Ukraine and Russia as a chance to prove that in the 21st century, developed nations should solve disputes at the negotiating table, not with weapons, she said. She also noted that Russia has an almost infinite supply of weapons it could send to Ukraine. She questioned whether any effort by the West could match that or, more importantly, achieve the outcome sought by Ukraine and its supporters.[81] On the contrary, von der Leyen said that giving the Ukrainians arms to help them defend themselves could have unintended and fateful consequences. "Weapons deliveries would be a fire accelerant," von der Leyen told the Süddeutsche Zeitung daily. She agreed with NATO SACEUR General Philip Breedlove that "it could give the Kremlin the excuse to openly intervene in this conflict."[82]

After Hungary used a water cannon and tear gas to drive asylum seekers back from the Hungarian-Serbian border in September 2015, during the European migrant crisis, von der Leyen publicly criticized the government of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and called the measures "not acceptable and [...] against the European rules that we have".[83]

Under von der Leyen's leadership, the German parliament approved government plans in early 2016 to send up to 650 soldiers to Mali, boosting its presence in the U.N. peacekeeping mission MINUSMA in the West African country.[84]

Armed forces reform edit
 
Von der Leyen during the MSC 2017

In June 2014, von der Leyen introduced a €100 million plan to make the Bundeswehr more attractive to recruits, including by offering crèches for soldiers' children, limiting postings to match school term dates, and considerable rises in hardship allowances for difficult postings.[85][86]

In August 2014 in a debate over funding priorities, von der Leyen categorized as "vital to national interests" only sensor technology and crypto technology and left all other funding items as secondary. Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel was unhappy with her and said that "this will have significant consequences for national defence procurement and European cooperation" as the key focus of the debate would determine where funding will be allocated. She admitted that "Germany would at present be unable to meet NATO requirements". For example, at this time the majority of the Luftwaffe was grounded, with 42 of its 109 Eurofighter Typhoons and 38 of 89 Tornado fighters ready for deployment. An external report had been commissioned and, with cost overruns rising into the billions of euros, all nine of the Bundeswehr's major projects had been delayed by between 30 and 360 months. This occurred one year into her tenure at Defense.[87]

In 2015, as a result of severe NATO–Russian tensions in Europe, Germany announced an increase in defence spending. In May 2015, the German government approved an increase in defence spending, at the time 1.3% of GDP, by 6.2% over the following five years, allowing the Ministry of Defense to modernize the army fully.[88] Plans were also announced to expand the tank fleet to a potential number of 328, order 131 more Boxer armoured personnel carriers, increase the submarine fleet, and to develop a new fighter jet to replace the Tornado.[89][90][91][92] Germany considered increasing the size of the army,[93] and in May 2016 von der Leyen announced it would spend €130 billion on new equipment by 2030 and add nearly 7,000 soldiers by 2023 in the first German military expansion since the end of the Cold War.[94][95][better source needed] In February 2017, she announced that the number of Bundeswehr professional soldiers would increase from 178,000 to 198,000 by 2024.[96]

In April 2017 after Bundeswehr officials failed to properly investigate persistent reports of brutal hazing rituals, sexual humiliation, and bullying in military training, von der Leyen fired the army's training commander, Major General Walter Spindler, in 2017.[97]

Progress towards a European Army edit

As a consequence of improved Dutch–German cooperation, since 2014 two of the three Royal Netherlands Army Brigades are under German Command. In 2014, the 11th Airmobile Brigade was integrated into the German Division of fast forces (DSK). The German 414 Tank Battalion was integrated into the Dutch 43rd Mechanized Brigade. In turn, the Dutch 43rd Mechanized Brigade will be assigned to the 1st Panzer Division of the German army, with the integration starting at the beginning of 2016, and the unit becoming operational at the end of 2019.[98] In February 2016 it was announced that the Seebatallion of the German Navy would start to operate under Royal Dutch Navy command.[99] The Dutch-German military cooperation was seen in 2016 by von der Leyen and Dutch Minister of Defence Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert as an example for setting up a European defence union.[99]

A further proposal by von der Leyen, to allow non-German EU nationals to join the Bundeswehr, was met in July 2016 by strong opposition, even from her own party.[100]

According to a policy dictated by von der Leyen in February 2017, the Bundeswehr is to play a greater role as an "anchor army" for smaller NATO states, by improving coordination between its divisions and smaller members' Brigades.[101]

It was announced in February 2017 that the Czech Republic's 4th Rapid Deployment Brigade and Romania's 81st Mechanized Brigade would be integrated into Germany's 10 Armoured Division and Rapid Response Forces Division.[102]

Military procurement edit
 
Ursula von der Leyen with US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter (2015 in Berlin)

In October 2014, von der Leyen pledged to get a grip on Germany's military equipment budget after publishing a KPMG report on repeated failures in controlling suppliers, costs and delivery deadlines, e.g., with the Airbus A400M Atlas transport plane, Eurofighter Typhoon jet and the Boxer armoured fighting vehicle.[103]

In January 2015, von der Leyen publicly criticized Airbus over delays in the delivery of A400M military transport planes, complaining that the company had a serious problem with product quality.[104] Under her leadership, the ministry agreed to accept 13 million euros in compensation for delays in deliveries of both the second and third A400M aircraft. In 2016, she asked for an additional 12.7 million euros in damages for delays in the delivery of a fourth plane.[105] Also in 2015, von der Leyen chose MBDA, jointly owned by Airbus, Britain's BAE Systems, and Italy's Leonardo S.p.A., to build the Medium Extended Air Defense System, but set strict milestones for it to retain the contract.[106]

Arms exports edit
 
German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen after being received by Vice Admiral AR Karve, Chief of Staff, Western Naval Command during her visit to India

During her May 2015 visit to India, von der Leyen expressed support for a project initiated by the Indian government to build six small German TKMS diesel-electric submarines for a total cost of $11 billion.[107][108]

In 2019, she also promoted the German government's decisions on arms exports to Saudi Arabia and Turkey.[109][110]

"Consultants affair" edit

Since 2018 an investigative committee organized by Germany's Federal Audit Office has been looking into how contracts worth tens of millions of euros were awarded to external consultancy firms.[111][112][72] The auditing office has found several irregularities in how the contracts were awarded. During the investigation, two of von der Leyen's phones were confiscated, but data from both phones have been deleted before being returned to the defence ministry.[113] In turn, opposition lawmaker Tobias Linder has filed a criminal complaint against von der Leyen suspecting deliberate destruction of evidence relevant for the case.[114][115]

CDU party career edit

Von der Leyen was elected as a member of the CDU executive board in December 2014 and received 70.5% of the votes. As in her reelections in 2016 (72.4%) and 2018 (57.47%), this was the weakest of all results.[116][117][118][119]

As a cabinet member, von der Leyen was, for several years, regarded as one of the leading contenders to succeed Merkel as Chancellor.[57][58][120][121][122][123] In 2010 she was Merkel's preferred candidate for President of Germany, but her nomination was blocked by the conservative wing of the CDU/CSU.[124] From 2018 until her nomination as European Commission president she was described as the favourite to succeed Jens Stoltenberg as Secretary General of NATO.[125][126][127] Die Welt reported that von der Leyen "is highly respected in the alliance" and that "all the [NATO] defence ministers listen when she speaks."[128]

President of the European Commission edit

 
Presidency of Ursula von der Leyen
1 December 2019 – present
Ursula von der Leyen
Cabinetvon der Leyen Commission
PartyEuropean People's Party
SeatBrussels
 

Commission logo
Official website
 
Ursula von der Leyen addressing the European Parliament on 16 July 2019

2019 edit

On 2 July 2019, von der Leyen was proposed by the European Council as their candidate for the office of President of the European Commission.[4][5] On 16 July, her nomination was approved by the European Parliament with 383 to 327 votes.[6] Germany abstained from the vote to nominate her. An article in The Guardian said that the reason for Germany's refusal to support her nomination in the European Council was that von der Leyen was considered divisive in her home country.[129] She is the first woman to hold the office[130] and the first German since the commission's first president, Walter Hallstein.[131]

When she lived in Brussels, her little sister Benita-Eva died of cancer at the age of eleven and she remembered "the enormous helplessness of my parents" in view of the cancer. This inspired her to make cancer a focus of her government.[132]

At the press conference announcing her nomination, European Council President Donald Tusk noted von der Leyen's intention to retain Commission First-Vice President Frans Timmermans during her administration. Timmermans has previously been one of the "lead candidates" (German: Spitzenkandidat) for the commission's presidency. As a candidate, she published a document entitled "My agenda for Europe",[133] and was fêted for her commitment to "gender equality and gender mainstreaming" by at least one observer who sought to advance the "professional development of women in the field of international peace and security".[134]

Following her nomination as a candidate for Commission president, the Commission provided her with a salary, office, and staff in Brussels to facilitate negotiations between the EU institutions as to her election. These arrangements were extended, to enable a smooth transition, during her period as president-elect, until the new College of Commissioners was confirmed by the European Parliament and took office in November.[135] In light of her new role, von der Leyen resigned her seat in the German Bundestag on 31 July 2019.[136]

Von der Leyen supported the proposed European Union–Mercosur free trade agreement,[137] which would form one of the world's largest free trade areas.[138] The fear is that the deal could lead to more deforestation of the Amazon rainforest as it expands market access to Brazilian beef.[139]

 
Von der Leyen with her proposed College of Commissioners on 19 November 2019

Von der Leyen unveiled the new proposed EU Commission's structure (whom she deemed to be a "geopolitical" one)[140] on 10 September 2019, renaming a number of posts of the College of Commissioners to make them sound less formal and more goal-oriented, including the controversial portfolio for "Protecting our European Way of Life",[141][142] a vice-presidency responsible for the coordination of migration, security, employment and education policies.[143][144] The later portfolio's name drew heavy criticism, as it was considered to carry a xenophobic message linking the protection of the "European Way of Life" to migration policies.[b][141] The proposed structure for the college also saw the "unexpected" promotion of EPP's Valdis Dombrovskis to a role of executive vice-president, up to a number of three executive vice-presidencies, equalling the roles entrusted to Timmermans and Margrethe Vestager.[140]

Controversy and investigation over award of contracts by German defence ministry edit

At the time of von der Leyen's nomination as president of the Commission, an investigative committee of the German parliament was investigating how, during her time as minister of defence of Germany, lucrative contracts from her ministry were awarded to outside consultants without proper oversight, and whether a network of informal personal connections facilitated those deals.[147]

In December 2019, German parliamentarians accused the German Defence Ministry of torpedoing the investigation into alleged wrongdoing in its consultant contracts by deleting data from the official phone of von der Leyen from the time she was Minister of Defence after it was declared evidence in the investigation, and by arguing that the deletion of the phone data was "for security reasons".[148]

2020 edit

 
Von der Leyen delivering her first State of the European Union address on 16 September 2020

In March 2020, von der Leyen's Commission turned down the idea of suspending the Schengen Agreement in order to introduce border controls around Italy, at that time the centre of the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe,[149][150][151] The decision drew criticism from some European politicians.[152][153] After some EU member states announced closure of their national borders to foreign nationals due to the COVID-19 pandemic, von der Leyen said that "Certain controls may be justified, but general travel bans are not seen as being the most effective by the World Health Organization. Moreover, they have a strong social and economic impact, they disrupt people's lives and business across the borders."[154] Von der Leyen condemned the U.S. decision to restrict travel from the coronavirus-affected Europe to the United States.[155]

Von der Leyen supported the EU's imposition of sanctions against Belarus after the security services violently cracked down on street protests in Minsk and elsewhere against the 26-year authoritarian rule under President, Alexander Lukashenko. The protests took place after a disputed presidential election, which was contested by the opposition and designated by the EU as not free and fair.[156][157] Sanctions were imposed after the Belarusian government diverted a civilian aircraft in order to seize an opposition figure, Roman Protasevich.[157]

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis called for EU sanctions against Turkey (citing Belarus as precedent) over Turkey's incursions into Greek maritime zones in the eastern Mediterranean, including illegal drilling and the passage of the Oruç Reis, accompanied by a Turkish Navy ship, in Greek waters. Sanctions would require a unanimous decision of the EU Council of Ministers. While France and Austria fully backed Greece's position, Germany (which at the time held the rotating EU presidency) took a more ambiguous stance. Von der Leyen said that Turkey and Belarus are "two different situations".[158]

2021 edit

 
Von der Leyen with Prime Minister of Poland Mateusz Morawiecki, in Brussels, 13 July 2021
 
Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin and von der Leyen meeting in Helsinki on 4 October 2021
 
Von der Leyen with U.S. President Joe Biden, 2021 G20 summit in Rome, 31 October 2021

French-U.S. and French-Australia relations suffered a period of tension in September 2021 due to fallout from the AUKUS defence pact between the U.S., the United Kingdom, and Australia. The security pact is directed at countering Chinese power in the Indo-Pacific region.[159] As part of the agreement, the U.S. agreed to provide nuclear-powered submarines to Australia. After entering into AUKUS, the Australian government cancelled an agreement that it had made with France for the provision of French conventionally powered submarines. Von der Leyen called the way France was treated "unacceptable" and demanded an explanation.[160] The EU also demanded an apology from Australia.[161]

 
Von der Leyen speaking at the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow

Due to a combination of unfavourable conditions, which involved soaring demand of natural gas, its diminished supply from Russia and Norway to the European markets, and less power generation by renewable energy sources such as wind, water and solar energy, Europe faced steep increases in energy prices in 2021.[162] Some critics blamed a record-breaking surge in energy prices on the European Commission's Green Deal, which aims to make the EU climate neutral by 2050.[163][164][165] Von der Leyen said that "Europe today is too reliant on gas and too dependent on gas imports. The answer has to do with diversifying our suppliers ... and, crucially, with speeding up the transition to clean energy."[166]

During the 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis, von der Leyen condemned the indiscriminate attacks by the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas on Israel.[167]

In December 2021 the former doctor expressed her concern that one-third of the European population still are not vaccinated. She said that "EU nations should open a debate around making COVID-19 vaccinations mandatory because too many people still refuse to get shots voluntarily."[168]

Controversy over transparency edit

In April 2021, The New York Times reported that von der Leyen had exchanged electronic correspondence with Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla negotiating terms of sale of the COVID-19 vaccine to the EU.[169] Emily O'Reilly, the European Ombudsman, accused von der Leyen of "maladministration" for failure to disclose that correspondence upon a FOI request, and for claiming that the messages had disappeared, and for further claiming that the vaccine line item of the EU's budget was confidential.[170][171]

von der Leyen took a personal role in negotiating the largest vaccine deal for the EU. If fully exercised, the deal is estimated to be worth around €35 billion and would cover the purchase of 900 million doses of the BioNTech/Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, with an additional 900 million doses available for purchase. Millions of COVID vaccines are currently unused and awaiting disposal in warehouses throughout the EU. Negotiators are trying to persuade Pfizer to make a compromise in order to halt or cancel some of those deliveries, with little success.[172]

2022 edit

 
Von der Leyen with US President Joe Biden and other G7 leaders on special NATO meeting, 24 March 2022
 
Von der Leyen, EU High Representative Josep Borrell, Slovak Prime Minister Eduard Heger, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal and Mayor Anatoliy Fedoruk in Bucha on 8 April 2022

After the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that Ukraine should become a member of the European Union, the Ukrainian people belong to the European family, but there is a long way to go and the war must end.[173] On 8 April 2022 in the midst of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine Von der Leyen travelled to Kyiv (which had seen open hostilities only days earlier) to lend her support to the beleaguered Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his countrymen. She visited the site of the Bucha massacre, tweeted "My message to Ukrainian people: Those responsible for the atrocities will be brought to justice. Your fight is our fight." and vowed she would work towards that country's accession to the EU. "Our goal is to present Ukraine's application to the council this summer." She was accompanied by Josep Borrell, who expressed "confidence that EU states would soon agree to his proposal to provide Ukraine with an additional €500 million to support the armed forces in their fight against the Russian army".[174][175][176][177][178] On 4 May 2022, she announced the European Union would seek to ban all imports of Russian crude oil and petroleum products.[179] She said in a statement, "We must become independent from Russian oil, coal and gas."[180]

 
Von der Leyen with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and other G7 leaders at the 48th G7 summit in Germany, 26 June 2022

At a 2022 Europe Day event to celebrate the conclusion of the Conference on the Future of Europe,[181] von der Leyen stated her agreement with the report[182] prepared by panels of randomly selected EU citizens, that the Union needed to move away from unanimous voting in the Council when it comes to foreign policy decisions.[183] In a June Politico interview, she expressed that her views had been shaped by the slow pace of the Union in adopting sanctions against Belarus and Russia due to unanimity requirements.[184] She has stated however, that the Union should not completely move away from unanimity.[184]

 
Von der Leyen with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, in Brussels, 3 November 2022

Russian invasion of Ukraine edit

 
Von der Leyen with President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in Kyiv, 15 September 2022

During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, von der Leyen travelled to Kyiv to support the Ukrainian people.[174][175][176][177][178]

Controversy over gas deliveries from Azerbaijan edit

 
Von der Leyen with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, 18 July 2022

On 18 July 2022 von der Leyen called Azerbaijan a reliable partner for energy supply,[185] later signing an agreement with Azerbaijan government intended to diversify gas supplies in the context of the ongoing Russian-Ukraine war 2022.[186] This sparked controversy when Azerbaijan attacked its neighbour Armenia just a few months later, and Azeri soldiers committed various documented atrocities including rapes and the murder of prisoners of war. Human rights activists claim that an EU president cannot condemn one dictator while embracing another, which was also expressed in the EU parliament by Martin Sonneborn.[187][188][189][190]

The deal will double Azerbaijan's natural gas imports through the Southern Gas Corridor by 2027.[191]

2023 edit

 
Von der Leyen with President of Israel Isaac Herzog, in Brussels, 25 January 2023
 
Von der Leyen with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, 2023 NATO summit in Vilnius, 12 July 2023
 
Von der Leyen with President of Brazil Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, in Brussels, 17 July 2023
 
Von der Leyen with Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and other leaders at the International Conference on Development and Migration in Rome, 23 July 2023
 
Von der Leyen with Prime Minister of Poland Donald Tusk, in Brussels, 15 December 2023

In April von der Leyen issued a video statement celebrating Israel's 75th Independence Day, noting that "the Jewish People could finally build a home in the Promised Land," adding that "You have literally made the desert bloom."[192]

In October 2023, von der Leyen condemned "the military operation by Azerbaijan against the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh and reaffirmed the need to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Armenia".[193]

During the October 2023 Israel–Hamas war, von der Leyen condemned the indiscriminate attacks by the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas on Israel, calling it "terrorism in its most despicable form" and saying "Israel has the right to defend itself against such heinous attacks".[194] She announced that humanitarian aid to Gaza would be tripled.[195]

Remarks at the Beyond Growth conference edit

In May 2023 at the Beyond Growth conference in the European Parliament, Ursula von der Leyen moderately criticized GDP-based economy saying that "a growth model centred on fossil fuels is simply obsolete" and "economic growth is not an end in itself". Approximately one hour later, the European Commission presented its economic forecast which talked about GDP and inflation without presenting any other parameters. When Economy Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni was asked whether the commission will change its mode of economy measuring following von der Leyer criticism he answered: "the Commission was considering a stronger role “not only [for] the environmental dimension, but the social dimension” in its recommendation and policies".[196][197] Von der Leyen remarks came as part of a debate in the European Union whether it possible to not pass Planetary boundaries in a GDP based economy.[198]

EU Deforestation Regulation edit

The European Commission officially approved a measure to phase out palm oil–based biofuels by 2030.[199][200] During a meeting with von der Leyen, Indonesian President Joko Widodo expressed concern about the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), which aims to prevent products linked to deforestation from reaching the EU market.[201]

Migrant crisis in Italy edit

In 2022, the European Union recorded the highest number of unauthorized migrant arrivals since 2016.[202] Von der Leyen tried to strike a deal with Tunisia's authoritarian President Kais Saied, with a focus on stopping illegal migration from Tunisia to Italy. In September 2023, more than 120 boats carrying around 7,000 migrants from Africa arrived on the Italian island of Lampedusa within 24 hours.[203] Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni declared that she wrote to von der Leyen "to ask her to come with me to Lampedusa to personally realize the gravity of the situation we face, and to immediately accelerate the implementation of the agreement with Tunisia by transferring the agreed resources."[204]

Other activities edit

 
President von der Leyen with Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi, New Delhi on 25 April 2022

Von der Leyen is a member of the German branch of the European Movement.[205] She is, or has been, also a member of several boards of trustees:

Political views edit

Childcare and parental leave edit

Ursula von der Leyen assumed her office as Federal Minister for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth in 2005. Amidst protest, particularly from the conservative wing of her party, the CDU, she introduced the Child Advancement Act [de] (Kinderförderungsgesetz), which reserved 4.3 billion euros for the creation of childcare structures throughout Germany.[212]

Von der Leyen also introduced the German Elternzeit, a paid parental leave scheme. Following Scandinavian models, the scheme reserves two additional months for fathers who go on parental leave as well (Vätermonate in German). This part of the law, in particular, attracted protest from some German conservatives. Catholic Bishop Walter Mixa accused von der Leyen of turning women into "birthing machines". Meanwhile, Bavarian colleagues from von der Leyen's sister party, the CSU, complained that men did not need a "diaper-changing internship".[213] von der Leyen successfully influenced public opinion of her reforms with a 3-million-euro PR campaign, which was criticized for using public funds for political advocacy and for employing embedded marketing techniques.[214]

Blocking internet child pornography edit

 
Demonstration on 17 April 2009 against internet censorship

Ursula von der Leyen advocated the initiation of a mandatory blockage of child pornography on the Internet through service providers via a block list maintained by the Federal Criminal Police Office of Germany (BKA), thus creating the necessary infrastructure for extensive censorship of websites deemed illegal by the BKA.[215]

These actions brought her the nickname "Zensursula", a portmanteau word blending the German word for censorship ("Zensur") and her given name ("Ursula").[216] The combination of a sensitive topic like child pornography and internet censorship is said to have caused a rising interest in the Pirate Party.[217]

In July 2009, she referred to the problems of struggling against paedophile pornography on the internet as the responsible persons often use servers located in Africa or India, where, she said, "child pornography is legal".[218][219] This claim was based on a 2006 study by the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children.[220] However, child pornography is, in fact, illegal in India, which has much stricter rules about erotic media than Germany. She later expressed regret for having cited an inaccurate study.[221]

Von der Leyen was in charge of the request to ban and rate the Rammstein album Liebe ist für alle da by the Federal Review Board for Media Harmful to Minors.[222]

Women board quota edit

In 2013, von der Leyen unsuccessfully campaigned for a statutory quota for female participation in the supervisory boards of companies in Germany, requiring company boards to be at least 20% female by 2018, rising to 40% by 2023.[223]

German foreign policy edit

 
Von der Leyen with U.S. President Donald Trump in January 2020

Von der Leyen is a proponent of a more assertive German foreign policy.[224][225] One striking example was the decision in September 2014 to send arms to Kurdish and Iraqi security forces. This decision broke a longstanding taboo on Germany's dispatching of weapons to a conflict zone.[122]

 
Von der Leyen and Russian President Vladimir Putin at the International Conference on Libya, 19 January 2020

On the deteriorating relationship between Europe and Russia during the 2014 Crimean crisis, she argued that "the reliance on a functioning business relationship with Europe is much, much bigger in Russia" and that sanctions should prod the oligarchs and Russian business.[226] She also called for more significant NATO backing of the Baltic states amid the Crimean dispute.[227]

 
Von der Leyen and Henry Kissinger at the Munich Security Conference in 2014

Von der Leyen has supported close security cooperation with Saudi Arabia.[228] German opposition parties criticized Germany's defence plan with Saudi Arabia, which has been waging war in Yemen and was condemned for massive human rights violations.[229][230] In 2016, von der Leyen caused controversy after she refused to wear a hijab while visiting Saudi Arabia. She said: "It annoys me when women are to be pushed into wearing the abaya."[231]

In 2017 von der Leyen noted that "healthy democratic resistance of the younger generation" in Poland must be supported.[232] In some Polish media, it was understood that she instigated opposition aimed to overthrow the allegedly anti-democratic and authoritarian PiS government; the statement was branded as scandalous.[233] The Polish Foreign Minister made sarcastic comments about "Prussian tone of the Ode to Joy".[234] The Polish Minister of Defence summoned the Germany military attache and demanded explanations.[235] The German embassy in Warsaw and spokesman for the German defence ministry in Berlin issued conciliatory statements.[236] The German media mostly ignored the incident; some acknowledged a "minor slip of the tongue"[237] on the part of von der Leyen, yet also noted that German-Polish relations were "severely damaged".[238]

Von der Leyen responded to Donald Trump's criticism of the Russian-backed Nord Stream 2—a pipeline for delivering natural gas from Russia to Germany—in an interview with the BBC: "We have an independent energy supply, we are an independent country, we are just diversifying".[239]

European integration edit

 
Manfred Weber, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer and von der Leyen in April 2019

In a 2011 interview with Der Spiegel, von der Leyen expressed her preference for "a united states of Europe – run along the lines of the federal states of Switzerland, Germany or the USA" which would capitalize on Europe's size by agreeing on core issues relating to finance, tax and economic politics.[240]

With 2014 marking the centenary of the start of World War I, von der Leyen – in her capacity as defence minister – inaugurated a memorial for the Armistice Day in Ablain-Saint-Nazaire alongside French President François Hollande and North Rhine-Westphalia State Premier Hannelore Kraft, as well as British and Belgian officials.[241]

In 2015, von der Leyen argued that a form of EU army should be a long-term goal. She also said that she was convinced about the goal of a combined military force, just as she was convinced that "perhaps not my children, but then my grandchildren will experience a United States of Europe".[242] In March 2015, she and her counterparts from France and Poland, Jean-Yves Le Drian and Tomasz Siemoniak, revived a meeting format intended to promote cooperation between the three countries in crisis zones by holding their first meeting between the Weimar Triangle defence ministers since 2007.[243]

 
Von der Leyen with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, 3 November 2022

Following the 2016 European Union membership referendum in the United Kingdom, she argued that the UK had "paralysed" European efforts to integrate security policy and "consistently blocked everything with the label 'Europe' on it".[244] She has described Brexit as "a burst bubble of hollow promises".[245] In an interview with The Guardian days after her election to succeed Jean-Claude Juncker as President of the European Commission, she stated that the withdrawal deal agreed between Theresa May and chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier would remain the basis of any future talks. She also stated that the EU should extend the Brexit deadline beyond 31 October 2019.[246] In November 2019, at Paris Peace Forum, von der Leyen said that there is need for stable and responsible leadership in Europe and that the bloc must increase foreign policy budget spending by one-third.[247]

On 7 September 2023, Ursula von der Leyen met the UAE President Mohammad bin Zayed in Abu Dhabi. The meeting included a discussion on the export of sanctioned goods through the Gulf state to Russia. She asked MbZ to be more cooperative and constructive in handling the issue. The EU expected the UAE to stop being a mediator supplying sanctioned goods to Russia. It had already sanctioned several Emirati entities that were alleged of directly supporting Russia’s war.[248]

Human rights in China edit

See also: Uyghur genocide and China–European Union relations
 
Ursula von der Leyen, French President Emmanuel Macron and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, China, 6 April 2023

Von der Leyen and French President Emmanuel Macron raised the issue of human rights in China during their visit to China in April 2023, amid growing international criticism of China's repression of ethnic minorities, political dissidents, and civil society activists.[249] They expressed their concerns over the situation in Xinjiang, where the Chinese government has detained an estimated one million Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims in re-education camps, subjected them to forced labor, surveillance, and genocide.[250] They also urged China to respect the autonomy and freedoms of Hong Kong.[251]

Same-sex marriage edit

When the Federal Constitutional Court ruled in favour of tax equality for same-sex couples in 2013, von der Leyen came forward in support of equal adoption rights, arguing that "I know of no study that says that children growing up in same-sex partnerships fare any differently than children who grow up in heterosexual marriages or partnerships".[252] In June 2017, von der Leyen voted against her parliamentary group's majority and in favour of Germany's introduction of same-sex marriage.[253]

Israel–Palestine edit

 
Von der Leyen with Israeli President Isaac Herzog in Brussels, January 2023

On the 75th anniversary of Israel's independence, von der Leyen referred to Israel as a "vibrant democracy" in the Middle East that made "the desert bloom". These remarks were criticized by the foreign ministry of the Palestinian Authority.[254][255] During the 2023 Israel–Hamas war, she was criticized for supporting Israel and not calling for a ceasefire.[256] On 13 October 2023, she visited Israel to express solidarity with the country.[257]

Environment edit

Ursula von der Leyen considers stopping climate change as a top priority.[citation needed] She is promoting green regulation and initiatives.[citation needed]

She promoted the European Green Deal.[258] She complained that "Global markets are now flooded with cheaper Chinese electric cars, and their price is kept artificially low by huge state subsidies".[259]

Honours edit

Foreign honours edit

Honorary degrees edit

Other awards edit

Publications edit

  • Ursula von der Leyen, C-reaktives Protein als diagnostischer Parameter zur Erfassung eines Amnioninfektionssyndroms bei vorzeitigem Blasensprung und therapeutischem Entspannungsbad in der Geburtsvorbereitung, doctoral dissertation, Hannover Medical School, 1990[270]
  • Ursula von der Leyen, Maria von Welser, Wir müssen unser Land für die Frauen verändern. (in German) C. Bertelsmann Verlag, Munich, 2007, ISBN 978-3-570-00959-8
  • Ursula von der Leyen, Liz Mohn, Familie gewinnt. (in German) Verlag Bertelsmann Stiftung, Gütersloh, 2007, ISBN 978-3-89204-927-2

Notes edit

  1. ^ The process for electing the president of the European Commission is described in Article 17(7) of the Treaty on European Union.[7]
  2. ^ The European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker criticized Von der Leyen's decision, saying: "I don't like the idea that the European way of life is opposed to migration. Accepting those that come from far away is part of the European way of life."[145] Philippe Lamberts, the president of the Greens–European Free Alliance at the European Parliament, said: "An all-white European Commission claiming to protect 'our European way of life' is a far cry from the idea of unity in diversity on which this union is built. Von der Leyen must present a better proposal".[146]

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  • Official website
Political offices
Preceded by Minister of Family Affairs and Youth
2005–2009 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Minister of Labour and Social Affairs
2009–2013 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Minister of Defence
2013–2019 		Succeeded by
Preceded by German European Commissioner
2019–present 		Incumbent
Preceded by President of the European Commission
2019–present

January 03, 2024
ursula, leyen, ursula, gertrud, leyen, german, ˈʊʁzula, ˈɡɛʁtʁuːt, fɔn, dɛɐ, ˈlaɪən, née, albrecht, born, october, 1958, german, physician, politician, serving, 13th, president, european, commission, since, 2019, served, german, federal, government, between, 2. Ursula Gertrud von der Leyen German ˈʊʁzula ˈɡɛʁtʁuːt fɔn dɛɐ ˈlaɪen nee Albrecht born 8 October 1958 is a German physician and politician serving as the 13th president of the European Commission since 2019 She served in the German federal government between 2005 and 2019 holding successive positions in Angela Merkel s cabinet most recently as minister of defence Von der Leyen is a member of the centre right Christian Democratic Union CDU and its EU affiliated group the European People s Party EPP Ursula von der LeyenOfficial portrait 2020President of the European CommissionIncumbentAssumed office 1 December 2019First Vice PresidentFrans TimmermansMaros SefcovicPreceded byJean Claude JunckerMinister of DefenceIn office 17 December 2013 17 July 2019ChancellorAngela MerkelPreceded byThomas de MaiziereSucceeded byAnnegret Kramp KarrenbauerMinister of Labour and Social AffairsIn office 30 November 2009 17 December 2013ChancellorAngela MerkelPreceded byFranz Josef JungSucceeded byAndrea NahlesMinister of Family Affairs Senior Citizens Women and YouthIn office 22 November 2005 30 November 2009ChancellorAngela MerkelPreceded byRenate SchmidtSucceeded byKristina SchroderParty rolesDeputy Leader of the Christian Democratic UnionIn office 15 November 2010 22 November 2019Serving with Volker Bouffier Julia Klockner Armin Laschet Thomas StroblLeaderAngela MerkelAnnegret Kramp KarrenbauerPreceded byChristian WulffSucceeded bySilvia BreherLower Saxony CabinetMinister of Social Affairs Women and Families and HealthIn office 4 March 2003 22 November 2005Minister PresidentChristian WulffPreceded byGitta TrauernichtSucceeded byMechthild Ross LuttmannParliamentary constituenciesMember of the Bundestag for Lower SaxonyIn office 27 October 2009 31 July 2019Preceded bymulti member districtSucceeded byIngrid PahlmannConstituencyChristian Democratic Union ListMember of theLandtag of Lower Saxony for LehrteIn office 4 March 2003 7 December 2005Preceded byGerhard Schroder 1998 Succeeded byDorothee PrussnerPersonal detailsBornUrsula Gertrud Albrecht 1958 10 08 8 October 1958 age 65 Ixelles Brussels BelgiumNationalityGermanPolitical partyChristian Democratic UnionSpouseHeiko von der Leyen m 1986 wbr Children7ParentErnst Albrecht father RelativesHans Holger Albrecht brother Carl Albrecht grandfather Alma materUniversity of GottingenUniversity of MunsterLondon School of EconomicsHannover Medical School MD MPH OccupationPoliticianPhysicianResearch fellowSignatureWebsiteOfficial websiteUrsula von der Leyen was born and raised in Brussels Belgium to German parents Her father Ernst Albrecht was one of the first European civil servants She was brought up bilingually in German and French and moved to Germany in 1971 when her father became involved in German politics She graduated as a physician in Hanover in 1987 After marrying fellow physician Heiko von der Leyen she lived for four years in the United States with her family in the 1990s After returning to Germany she became involved in local politics in the Hanover region in the late 1990s and she served as a cabinet minister in the state government of Lower Saxony from 2003 to 2005 In 2005 she joined the federal cabinet first as minister of family affairs and youth from 2005 to 2009 then as minister of labour and social affairs from 2009 to 2013 and finally as minister of defence from 2013 to 2019 the first woman to serve as German defence minister 1 When she left office she was the only minister to have served continuously in Merkel s cabinet since Merkel became chancellor She served as a deputy leader of the CDU from 2010 to 2019 and was regarded as a leading contender to succeed Merkel as chancellor of Germany and as the favourite to become secretary general of NATO after Jens Stoltenberg British defence secretary Michael Fallon described her in 2019 as a star presence in the NATO community and the doyenne of NATO ministers for over five years 2 In 2023 she was again regarded as the favourite to take the role 3 On 2 July 2019 von der Leyen was proposed by the European Council as the candidate for president of the European Commission 4 5 She was then elected by the European Parliament on 16 July 6 a she took office on 1 December becoming the first woman to hold the office In November 2022 von der Leyen announced that her Commission would work to establish an International Criminal Tribunal for the Russian Federation 8 She was named the most powerful woman in the world by Forbes in 2022 and 2023 9 10 Contents 1 Family and early life 2 Education and professional career 2 1 Plagiarism accusations 3 Early political career 3 1 In the Niedersachsen Landtag 2003 2005 3 2 In the Bundestag 2005 2019 3 2 1 Minister of Family Affairs and Youth 2005 2009 3 2 2 Minister of Labour and Social Affairs 2009 2013 3 2 3 Minister of Defence 2013 2019 3 2 3 1 International crises 3 2 3 2 Armed forces reform 3 2 3 3 Progress towards a European Army 3 2 3 4 Military procurement 3 2 3 5 Arms exports 3 2 3 6 Consultants affair 3 3 CDU party career 4 President of the European Commission 4 1 2019 4 1 1 Controversy and investigation over award of contracts by German defence ministry 4 2 2020 4 3 2021 4 3 1 Controversy over transparency 4 4 2022 4 4 1 Russian invasion of Ukraine 4 4 2 Controversy over gas deliveries from Azerbaijan 4 5 2023 4 5 1 Remarks at the Beyond Growth conference 4 5 2 EU Deforestation Regulation 4 5 3 Migrant crisis in Italy 5 Other activities 6 Political views 6 1 Childcare and parental leave 6 2 Blocking internet child pornography 6 3 Women board quota 6 4 German foreign policy 6 5 European integration 6 6 Human rights in China 6 7 Same sex marriage 6 8 Israel Palestine 6 9 Environment 7 Honours 7 1 Foreign honours 7 2 Honorary degrees 7 3 Other awards 8 Publications 9 Notes 10 References 11 External linksFamily and early life editMain article Albrecht family Von der Leyen was born in 1958 in Ixelles Brussels Belgium where she lived until she was 13 years old In the family she has been known since childhood as Roschen a diminutive of Rose 11 Her father Ernst Albrecht worked as one of the first European civil servants from the establishment of the European Commission in 1958 first as chef de cabinet to the European commissioner for competition Hans von der Groeben in the Hallstein Commission and then as director general of the Directorate General for Competition from 1967 to 1970 She attended the European School Brussels I until the age of 13 12 In 1971 she relocated to Sehnde in the Hanover region after her father had become CEO of the food company Bahlsen and involved in state politics in Lower Saxony 13 Her father served as Minister President of Lower Saxony state prime minister from 1976 to 1990 being re elected in state parliament elections in 1978 1982 and 1986 14 In 1980 he ran for the CDU nomination for the German chancellorship backed by CDU chairman Helmut Kohl but narrowly missed the candidacy to fellow conservative Franz Josef Strauss who then lost the general election to the sitting chancellor Helmut Schmidt in the 1990 state elections Ernst Albrecht lost his office to Gerhard Schroder who later became German chancellor Most of her ancestors were from the former states of Hanover and Bremen in today s northwestern Germany she has one American great grandmother of primarily British descent with more distant French and Italian ancestors and some ancestors from what is now Estonia then part of former Russian Empire The Albrecht family was among the hubsche courtly or genteel families of the Electorate and Kingdom of Hanover a state that was in a personal union with the United Kingdom and her ancestors had been doctors jurists and civil servants since the 17th century Her great great grandfather George Alexander Albrecht moved to Bremen in the 19th century where he became a wealthy cotton merchant part of the Hanseatic elite and the Austro Hungarian Consul from 1895 He married Baroness Louise Dorothea Betty von Knoop 1844 1889 a daughter of Baron Johann Ludwig von Knoop one of the most successful entrepreneurs of the 19th century Russian Empire 15 better source needed Von der Leyen s father s grandparents were the cotton merchant Carl Albrecht 1875 1952 and Mary Ladson Robertson 1883 1960 an American who descended from a planter family in Charleston South Carolina Her American ancestors played a significant role in the British colonization of the Americas and she descends from many of the first English settlers of Carolina Virginia Pennsylvania and Barbados and from numerous colonial governors Among her ancestors were Carolina governors John Yeamans James Moore Robert Gibbes Thomas Smith and Joseph Blake Pennsylvania deputy governor Samuel Carpenter and the American revolutionary and lieutenant governor of South Carolina James Ladson 16 17 18 The Ladson family were large plantation owners and her ancestor James H Ladson owned over 200 slaves by the time slavery in the United States was abolished her relatives and ancestors were among the wealthiest in British North America in the 18th century and she descends from one of the largest slave traders in the Thirteen Colonies Joseph Wragg Carl and Mary were the parents of Ursula von der Leyen s grandfather the psychologist Carl Albrecht who was known for developing a new method of meditation and for his research on mystical consciousness 19 She is the niece of the conductor George Alexander Albrecht and a first cousin of the chief conductor of the Dutch National Opera Marc Albrecht 20 Contrary to persistent internet rumours the Albrecht family is not related to the owners of the supermarket chain Aldi nbsp Von der Leyen s family coat of armsIn 1986 she married physician Heiko von der Leyen a member of the von der Leyen family that made a fortune as silk merchants and was ennobled in 1786 her husband became a professor of medicine and the CEO of a medical engineering company She met him at a university choir in Gottingen 21 They have seven children born between 1987 and 1999 22 Von der Leyen is Lutheran 23 24 Ursula von der Leyen is a native speaker of German and French and speaks English fluently having lived for a combined five years in the United Kingdom and the United States 25 She lives with her family on a farm in Burgdorf near Hanover where they keep horses 26 She is a keen equestrian and has been involved in competitive horseriding 27 Education and professional career editShe moved to the Hanover Region in 1971 when her father entered politics to become minister president of the state of Lower Saxony in 1976 As an economics student at the London School of Economics in the late 1970s she lived under the name Rose Ladson the family name of her American great grandmother from Charleston South Carolina In 1977 she started studying economics at the University of Gottingen At the height of the fear of communist terrorism in West Germany she fled to London in 1978 after her family was told that the Red Army Faction RAF was planning to kidnap her due to her being the daughter of a prominent politician She spent more than a year in hiding in London where she lived with protection from Scotland Yard under the name Rose Ladson to avoid detection and enrolled at the London School of Economics 28 29 30 31 A German diminutive of Rose Roschen had been her nickname since childhood 32 while Ladson was the name of her American great grandmother s family originally from Northamptonshire She said that she lived more than she studied 33 and that London was the epitome of modernity freedom the joy of life trying everything which gave me an inner freedom that I have kept till today 29 She returned to Germany in 1979 but lived with a security detail at her side for several years 34 In 1980 she switched to studying medicine and enrolled at the Hannover Medical School where she graduated in 1987 and acquired her medical license specializing in women s health 35 From 1988 to 1992 she worked as an assistant physician at the Women s Clinic of the Hannover Medical School Upon completing her doctoral studies she defended the thesis 36 and graduated as a Doctor of Medicine in 1991 Following the birth of twins she was a housewife in Stanford California from 1992 to 1996 while her husband was a faculty member of Stanford University returning to Germany in 1996 37 From 1998 to 2002 she taught at the Department of Epidemiology Social Medicine and Health System Research at the Hannover Medical School citation needed In 2001 she earned a Master of Public Health degree at the institution 38 39 40 Plagiarism accusations edit In 2015 researchers collaborating at the VroniPlag Wiki reviewed von der Leyen s 1991 doctoral thesis and alleged that 43 5 of the thesis pages contained plagiarism and in 23 cases citations were used that did not verify claims for which they were given 41 42 Multiple notable German academics such as Gerhard Dannemann de and Volker Rieble de publicly accused von der Leyen of intended plagiarism 43 The Hannover Medical School conducted an investigation and concluded in March 2016 that while the thesis contains plagiarism no intention to deceive could be proven 44 45 The university decided not to revoke von der Leyen s medical degree 44 Critics questioned the independence of the commission that reviewed the thesis as von der Leyen personally knew its director from joint work for an alumni association 45 Various media outlets also criticized that the decision was nontransparent not according to established rules and failed to secure high academic standards 45 46 47 Early political career editUrsula von der Leyen joined the CDU in 1990 and became active in local politics in Lower Saxony in 1996 shortly after she had returned to Germany after living in California She was a member of the committee on social policy of CDU in Lower Saxony from 1996 and also became active in the association of medical doctors in the CDU party 48 In the Niedersachsen Landtag 2003 2005 edit Ursula von der Leyen was elected to the Parliament of Lower Saxony in the 2003 state election for Lehrte the same constituency then Chancellor Gerhard Schroder represented from 1986 to 1998 From 2003 to 2005 she was a minister in the state government of Lower Saxony serving in the cabinet of Christian Wulff with responsibility for social affairs women family and health 49 In 2003 von der Leyen was part of a group assigned by the then opposition leader and CDU chairwoman Angela Merkel to draft alternative proposals for social welfare reform in response to Chancellor Gerhard Schroder s Agenda 2010 The so called Herzog Commission named after its chairman the former German President Roman Herzog recommended a comprehensive package of reform proposals including among other things decoupling health and nursing care premiums from people s earnings and levying a monthly lump sum across the board instead 50 nbsp 2005 campaign poster featuring von der LeyenAhead of the 2005 federal elections Angela Merkel chose Ursula von der Leyen to cover the family and social security portfolio in her shadow cabinet 51 52 In the negotiations to form a government following the election von der Leyen led the CDU CSU delegation in the working group on families her co chair from the SPD was Renate Schmidt 53 In the Bundestag 2005 2019 edit Minister of Family Affairs and Youth 2005 2009 edit In 2005 Ursula von der Leyen was appointed Federal Minister of Family Affairs and Youth in the cabinet of Angela Merkel On the 60th anniversary of the founding of Israel von der Leyen participated in the first joint cabinet meeting of the governments of Germany and Israel in Jerusalem in March 2008 54 Minister of Labour and Social Affairs 2009 2013 edit At the federal election of 2009 von der Leyen was elected to the Bundestag Germany s Parliament representing the 42nd electoral district of Hanover alongside Edelgard Bulmahn of the Social Democrats In the negotiations to form a coalition government following the elections she led the CDU CSU delegation in the working group on health policy her co chair from the FDP was Philipp Rosler She was reappointed as family minister 55 but on 30 November 2009 succeeded Franz Josef Jung as Federal Minister of Labour and Social Affairs 56 nbsp Ursula von der Leyen at a horse show in Hagen in Osnabruck Germany in 2013During her time in office von der Leyen cultivated the image of being the social conscience of the CDU 57 and helped Merkel to move the CDU into the political centre ground 58 In speaking out for increasing the number of childcare nurseries for the introduction of a women s quota for listed companies main boards for gay marriage and a nationwide minimum wage von der Leyen made enemies among the more traditionalist party members and won admirers on the left 59 Von der Leyen also lobbied for lowering the barriers to immigration for some foreign workers in order to fight shortages of skilled workers in Germany 60 In 2013 she concluded an agreement with the Government of the Philippines that was aimed at helping Filipino health care professionals to gain employment in Germany A vital provision of the agreement is that the Filipino workers are to be employed on the same terms and conditions as their German counterparts 61 Von der Leyen was initially considered the front runner to be nominated by the ruling CDU CSU parties for election as President of Germany in the 2010 presidential election 62 but Christian Wulff was eventually chosen as the parties candidate The news media later reported that Wulff s nomination came as a blow to Merkel whose choice of Leyen had been blocked by the two parties more conservative state premiers 63 In November 2010 von der Leyen was elected with 85 of the votes as one of four deputies of CDU chairwoman Merkel serving alongside Volker Bouffier Norbert Rottgen and Annette Schavan Later that month she told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper that the CDU should consider establishing a formal voting process for choosing future candidates for Chancellor 64 In 2012 she was re elected with 69 of the votes as one of Merkel s deputies as CDU chairwoman this time serving alongside Bouffier Julia Klockner Armin Laschet and Thomas Strobl 65 In the negotiations to form a government following the 2013 federal elections von der Leyen led the CDU CSU delegation in the labour policy working group with Andrea Nahles of the SPD as her co chair 66 Minister of Defence 2013 2019 edit nbsp Von der Leyen with German soldiers during a visit to the Field Marshal Rommel Barracks Augustdorf 2014 In December 2013 Ursula von der Leyen was appointed by Merkel as Germany s first female defence minister 59 By placing a significant party figure such as von der Leyen at the head of the Defence Ministry Merkel was widely seen as reinvigorating the scandal ridden ministry s morale and prestige 67 Until her 2019 appointment as the president of the European Commission she was the only minister to remain with Merkel since she became chancellor in 2005 1 In December 2014 von der Leyen had her fingerprint cloned by a German hacker who was able to use the commercially available VeriFinger product from Neurotechnology UAB to replicate her fingerprint using photographs taken with a standard photo camera 68 69 In August 2016 von der Leyen joined the World Economic Forum board of trustees 70 In September 2016 von der Leyen chaired the EPP Defence Ministers Meeting which gathers EPP defence ministers ahead of meetings of the Council of the European Union 71 Former British Secretary of State for Defence Michael Fallon noted in 2019 that she had been a star presence in the NATO community and the doyenne of NATO ministers for over five years 2 She has faced domestic criticism for her leadership style reliance on outside consultants and continued gaps in military readiness 72 International crises edit nbsp Chuck Hagel and Ursula von der Leyen at the September 2014 NATO summit in Newport WalesWithin her first year in office von der Leyen visited the Bundeswehr troops stationed in Afghanistan three times and oversaw the gradual withdrawal of German soldiers from the country as NATO was winding down its 13 year combat mission ISAF 73 In September 2015 she signalled that she was open to delaying the withdrawal of 850 German soldiers from Afghanistan beyond 2016 after the Taliban s surprise seizure of the northern city of Kunduz German forces used to be based in Kunduz as part of NATO led ISAF and remain stationed in the north of the country 74 She later opposed the troop withdrawal from Afghanistan 75 nbsp Von der Leyen and General Bekir Ercan Van far left the commander of Incirlik Air Base who was accused of complicity in the 2016 Turkish coup d etat attemptIn the summer of 2014 she was instrumental in Germany s decision to resupply the Kurdish Peshmerga fighters with lethal assistance 76 Following criticism from German officials of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan s escalation of the Kurdish Turkish conflict in August 2015 von der Leyen decided to let Germany s three year Patriot missile batteries mission to southern Turkey lapse in January 2016 instead of seeking parliamentary approval to extend it That same month she participated in the first joint cabinet meeting of the governments of Germany and Turkey in Berlin 77 By April 2016 under von der Leyen s leadership the German Federal Armed Forces announced they would commit 65 million Euro to establish a permanent presence at Incirlik Air Base as part of Germany s commitment to the military intervention against ISIL 78 79 80 At the Munich Security Conference in February 2015 von der Leyen publicly defended the German refusal to supply Ukraine with weapons Stressing that it was necessary to remain united in Europe over Ukraine she argued that negotiations with Russia unlike with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant jihadists were possible Angela Merkel saw Ukraine and Russia as a chance to prove that in the 21st century developed nations should solve disputes at the negotiating table not with weapons she said She also noted that Russia has an almost infinite supply of weapons it could send to Ukraine She questioned whether any effort by the West could match that or more importantly achieve the outcome sought by Ukraine and its supporters 81 On the contrary von der Leyen said that giving the Ukrainians arms to help them defend themselves could have unintended and fateful consequences Weapons deliveries would be a fire accelerant von der Leyen told the Suddeutsche Zeitung daily She agreed with NATO SACEUR General Philip Breedlove that it could give the Kremlin the excuse to openly intervene in this conflict 82 After Hungary used a water cannon and tear gas to drive asylum seekers back from the Hungarian Serbian border in September 2015 during the European migrant crisis von der Leyen publicly criticized the government of Prime Minister Viktor Orban and called the measures not acceptable and against the European rules that we have 83 Under von der Leyen s leadership the German parliament approved government plans in early 2016 to send up to 650 soldiers to Mali boosting its presence in the U N peacekeeping mission MINUSMA in the West African country 84 Armed forces reform edit nbsp Von der Leyen during the MSC 2017In June 2014 von der Leyen introduced a 100 million plan to make the Bundeswehr more attractive to recruits including by offering creches for soldiers children limiting postings to match school term dates and considerable rises in hardship allowances for difficult postings 85 86 In August 2014 in a debate over funding priorities von der Leyen categorized as vital to national interests only sensor technology and crypto technology and left all other funding items as secondary Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel was unhappy with her and said that this will have significant consequences for national defence procurement and European cooperation as the key focus of the debate would determine where funding will be allocated She admitted that Germany would at present be unable to meet NATO requirements For example at this time the majority of the Luftwaffe was grounded with 42 of its 109 Eurofighter Typhoons and 38 of 89 Tornado fighters ready for deployment An external report had been commissioned and with cost overruns rising into the billions of euros all nine of the Bundeswehr s major projects had been delayed by between 30 and 360 months This occurred one year into her tenure at Defense 87 In 2015 as a result of severe NATO Russian tensions in Europe Germany announced an increase in defence spending In May 2015 the German government approved an increase in defence spending at the time 1 3 of GDP by 6 2 over the following five years allowing the Ministry of Defense to modernize the army fully 88 Plans were also announced to expand the tank fleet to a potential number of 328 order 131 more Boxer armoured personnel carriers increase the submarine fleet and to develop a new fighter jet to replace the Tornado 89 90 91 92 Germany considered increasing the size of the army 93 and in May 2016 von der Leyen announced it would spend 130 billion on new equipment by 2030 and add nearly 7 000 soldiers by 2023 in the first German military expansion since the end of the Cold War 94 95 better source needed In February 2017 she announced that the number of Bundeswehr professional soldiers would increase from 178 000 to 198 000 by 2024 96 In April 2017 after Bundeswehr officials failed to properly investigate persistent reports of brutal hazing rituals sexual humiliation and bullying in military training von der Leyen fired the army s training commander Major General Walter Spindler in 2017 97 Progress towards a European Army edit As a consequence of improved Dutch German cooperation since 2014 two of the three Royal Netherlands Army Brigades are under German Command In 2014 the 11th Airmobile Brigade was integrated into the German Division of fast forces DSK The German 414 Tank Battalion was integrated into the Dutch 43rd Mechanized Brigade In turn the Dutch 43rd Mechanized Brigade will be assigned to the 1st Panzer Division of the German army with the integration starting at the beginning of 2016 and the unit becoming operational at the end of 2019 98 In February 2016 it was announced that the Seebatallion of the German Navy would start to operate under Royal Dutch Navy command 99 The Dutch German military cooperation was seen in 2016 by von der Leyen and Dutch Minister of Defence Jeanine Hennis Plasschaert as an example for setting up a European defence union 99 A further proposal by von der Leyen to allow non German EU nationals to join the Bundeswehr was met in July 2016 by strong opposition even from her own party 100 According to a policy dictated by von der Leyen in February 2017 the Bundeswehr is to play a greater role as an anchor army for smaller NATO states by improving coordination between its divisions and smaller members Brigades 101 It was announced in February 2017 that the Czech Republic s 4th Rapid Deployment Brigade and Romania s 81st Mechanized Brigade would be integrated into Germany s 10 Armoured Division and Rapid Response Forces Division 102 Military procurement edit nbsp Ursula von der Leyen with US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter 2015 in Berlin In October 2014 von der Leyen pledged to get a grip on Germany s military equipment budget after publishing a KPMG report on repeated failures in controlling suppliers costs and delivery deadlines e g with the Airbus A400M Atlas transport plane Eurofighter Typhoon jet and the Boxer armoured fighting vehicle 103 In January 2015 von der Leyen publicly criticized Airbus over delays in the delivery of A400M military transport planes complaining that the company had a serious problem with product quality 104 Under her leadership the ministry agreed to accept 13 million euros in compensation for delays in deliveries of both the second and third A400M aircraft In 2016 she asked for an additional 12 7 million euros in damages for delays in the delivery of a fourth plane 105 Also in 2015 von der Leyen chose MBDA jointly owned by Airbus Britain s BAE Systems and Italy s Leonardo S p A to build the Medium Extended Air Defense System but set strict milestones for it to retain the contract 106 Arms exports edit nbsp German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen after being received by Vice Admiral AR Karve Chief of Staff Western Naval Command during her visit to IndiaDuring her May 2015 visit to India von der Leyen expressed support for a project initiated by the Indian government to build six small German TKMS diesel electric submarines for a total cost of 11 billion 107 108 In 2019 she also promoted the German government s decisions on arms exports to Saudi Arabia and Turkey 109 110 Consultants affair edit Since 2018 an investigative committee organized by Germany s Federal Audit Office has been looking into how contracts worth tens of millions of euros were awarded to external consultancy firms 111 112 72 The auditing office has found several irregularities in how the contracts were awarded During the investigation two of von der Leyen s phones were confiscated but data from both phones have been deleted before being returned to the defence ministry 113 In turn opposition lawmaker Tobias Linder has filed a criminal complaint against von der Leyen suspecting deliberate destruction of evidence relevant for the case 114 115 CDU party career edit Von der Leyen was elected as a member of the CDU executive board in December 2014 and received 70 5 of the votes As in her reelections in 2016 72 4 and 2018 57 47 this was the weakest of all results 116 117 118 119 As a cabinet member von der Leyen was for several years regarded as one of the leading contenders to succeed Merkel as Chancellor 57 58 120 121 122 123 In 2010 she was Merkel s preferred candidate for President of Germany but her nomination was blocked by the conservative wing of the CDU CSU 124 From 2018 until her nomination as European Commission president she was described as the favourite to succeed Jens Stoltenberg as Secretary General of NATO 125 126 127 Die Welt reported that von der Leyen is highly respected in the alliance and that all the NATO defence ministers listen when she speaks 128 President of the European Commission edit nbsp Presidency of Ursula von der Leyen 1 December 2019 presentPresidentUrsula von der LeyenCabinetvon der Leyen CommissionPartyEuropean People s PartySeatBrussels Jean Claude Juncker nbsp Commission logoOfficial website nbsp Ursula von der Leyen addressing the European Parliament on 16 July 20192019 edit On 2 July 2019 von der Leyen was proposed by the European Council as their candidate for the office of President of the European Commission 4 5 On 16 July her nomination was approved by the European Parliament with 383 to 327 votes 6 Germany abstained from the vote to nominate her An article in The Guardian said that the reason for Germany s refusal to support her nomination in the European Council was that von der Leyen was considered divisive in her home country 129 She is the first woman to hold the office 130 and the first German since the commission s first president Walter Hallstein 131 When she lived in Brussels her little sister Benita Eva died of cancer at the age of eleven and she remembered the enormous helplessness of my parents in view of the cancer This inspired her to make cancer a focus of her government 132 At the press conference announcing her nomination European Council President Donald Tusk noted von der Leyen s intention to retain Commission First Vice President Frans Timmermans during her administration Timmermans has previously been one of the lead candidates German Spitzenkandidat for the commission s presidency As a candidate she published a document entitled My agenda for Europe 133 and was feted for her commitment to gender equality and gender mainstreaming by at least one observer who sought to advance the professional development of women in the field of international peace and security 134 Following her nomination as a candidate for Commission president the Commission provided her with a salary office and staff in Brussels to facilitate negotiations between the EU institutions as to her election These arrangements were extended to enable a smooth transition during her period as president elect until the new College of Commissioners was confirmed by the European Parliament and took office in November 135 In light of her new role von der Leyen resigned her seat in the German Bundestag on 31 July 2019 136 Von der Leyen supported the proposed European Union Mercosur free trade agreement 137 which would form one of the world s largest free trade areas 138 The fear is that the deal could lead to more deforestation of the Amazon rainforest as it expands market access to Brazilian beef 139 nbsp Von der Leyen with her proposed College of Commissioners on 19 November 2019Von der Leyen unveiled the new proposed EU Commission s structure whom she deemed to be a geopolitical one 140 on 10 September 2019 renaming a number of posts of the College of Commissioners to make them sound less formal and more goal oriented including the controversial portfolio for Protecting our European Way of Life 141 142 a vice presidency responsible for the coordination of migration security employment and education policies 143 144 The later portfolio s name drew heavy criticism as it was considered to carry a xenophobic message linking the protection of the European Way of Life to migration policies b 141 The proposed structure for the college also saw the unexpected promotion of EPP s Valdis Dombrovskis to a role of executive vice president up to a number of three executive vice presidencies equalling the roles entrusted to Timmermans and Margrethe Vestager 140 Controversy and investigation over award of contracts by German defence ministry edit At the time of von der Leyen s nomination as president of the Commission an investigative committee of the German parliament was investigating how during her time as minister of defence of Germany lucrative contracts from her ministry were awarded to outside consultants without proper oversight and whether a network of informal personal connections facilitated those deals 147 In December 2019 German parliamentarians accused the German Defence Ministry of torpedoing the investigation into alleged wrongdoing in its consultant contracts by deleting data from the official phone of von der Leyen from the time she was Minister of Defence after it was declared evidence in the investigation and by arguing that the deletion of the phone data was for security reasons 148 2020 edit nbsp Von der Leyen delivering her first State of the European Union address on 16 September 2020In March 2020 von der Leyen s Commission turned down the idea of suspending the Schengen Agreement in order to introduce border controls around Italy at that time the centre of the COVID 19 pandemic in Europe 149 150 151 The decision drew criticism from some European politicians 152 153 After some EU member states announced closure of their national borders to foreign nationals due to the COVID 19 pandemic von der Leyen said that Certain controls may be justified but general travel bans are not seen as being the most effective by the World Health Organization Moreover they have a strong social and economic impact they disrupt people s lives and business across the borders 154 Von der Leyen condemned the U S decision to restrict travel from the coronavirus affected Europe to the United States 155 Von der Leyen supported the EU s imposition of sanctions against Belarus after the security services violently cracked down on street protests in Minsk and elsewhere against the 26 year authoritarian rule under President Alexander Lukashenko The protests took place after a disputed presidential election which was contested by the opposition and designated by the EU as not free and fair 156 157 Sanctions were imposed after the Belarusian government diverted a civilian aircraft in order to seize an opposition figure Roman Protasevich 157 Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis called for EU sanctions against Turkey citing Belarus as precedent over Turkey s incursions into Greek maritime zones in the eastern Mediterranean including illegal drilling and the passage of the Oruc Reis accompanied by a Turkish Navy ship in Greek waters Sanctions would require a unanimous decision of the EU Council of Ministers While France and Austria fully backed Greece s position Germany which at the time held the rotating EU presidency took a more ambiguous stance Von der Leyen said that Turkey and Belarus are two different situations 158 2021 edit nbsp Von der Leyen with Prime Minister of Poland Mateusz Morawiecki in Brussels 13 July 2021 nbsp Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin and von der Leyen meeting in Helsinki on 4 October 2021 nbsp Von der Leyen with U S President Joe Biden 2021 G20 summit in Rome 31 October 2021French U S and French Australia relations suffered a period of tension in September 2021 due to fallout from the AUKUS defence pact between the U S the United Kingdom and Australia The security pact is directed at countering Chinese power in the Indo Pacific region 159 As part of the agreement the U S agreed to provide nuclear powered submarines to Australia After entering into AUKUS the Australian government cancelled an agreement that it had made with France for the provision of French conventionally powered submarines Von der Leyen called the way France was treated unacceptable and demanded an explanation 160 The EU also demanded an apology from Australia 161 nbsp Von der Leyen speaking at the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference in GlasgowDue to a combination of unfavourable conditions which involved soaring demand of natural gas its diminished supply from Russia and Norway to the European markets and less power generation by renewable energy sources such as wind water and solar energy Europe faced steep increases in energy prices in 2021 162 Some critics blamed a record breaking surge in energy prices on the European Commission s Green Deal which aims to make the EU climate neutral by 2050 163 164 165 Von der Leyen said that Europe today is too reliant on gas and too dependent on gas imports The answer has to do with diversifying our suppliers and crucially with speeding up the transition to clean energy 166 During the 2021 Israel Palestine crisis von der Leyen condemned the indiscriminate attacks by the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas on Israel 167 In December 2021 the former doctor expressed her concern that one third of the European population still are not vaccinated She said that EU nations should open a debate around making COVID 19 vaccinations mandatory because too many people still refuse to get shots voluntarily 168 Controversy over transparency edit In April 2021 The New York Times reported that von der Leyen had exchanged electronic correspondence with Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla negotiating terms of sale of the COVID 19 vaccine to the EU 169 Emily O Reilly the European Ombudsman accused von der Leyen of maladministration for failure to disclose that correspondence upon a FOI request and for claiming that the messages had disappeared and for further claiming that the vaccine line item of the EU s budget was confidential 170 171 von der Leyen took a personal role in negotiating the largest vaccine deal for the EU If fully exercised the deal is estimated to be worth around 35 billion and would cover the purchase of 900 million doses of the BioNTech Pfizer COVID 19 vaccine with an additional 900 million doses available for purchase Millions of COVID vaccines are currently unused and awaiting disposal in warehouses throughout the EU Negotiators are trying to persuade Pfizer to make a compromise in order to halt or cancel some of those deliveries with little success 172 2022 edit nbsp Von der Leyen with US President Joe Biden and other G7 leaders on special NATO meeting 24 March 2022 nbsp Von der Leyen EU High Representative Josep Borrell Slovak Prime Minister Eduard Heger Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal and Mayor Anatoliy Fedoruk in Bucha on 8 April 2022After the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that Ukraine should become a member of the European Union the Ukrainian people belong to the European family but there is a long way to go and the war must end 173 On 8 April 2022 in the midst of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine Von der Leyen travelled to Kyiv which had seen open hostilities only days earlier to lend her support to the beleaguered Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his countrymen She visited the site of the Bucha massacre tweeted My message to Ukrainian people Those responsible for the atrocities will be brought to justice Your fight is our fight and vowed she would work towards that country s accession to the EU Our goal is to present Ukraine s application to the council this summer She was accompanied by Josep Borrell who expressed confidence that EU states would soon agree to his proposal to provide Ukraine with an additional 500 million to support the armed forces in their fight against the Russian army 174 175 176 177 178 On 4 May 2022 she announced the European Union would seek to ban all imports of Russian crude oil and petroleum products 179 She said in a statement We must become independent from Russian oil coal and gas 180 nbsp Von der Leyen with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and other G7 leaders at the 48th G7 summit in Germany 26 June 2022At a 2022 Europe Day event to celebrate the conclusion of the Conference on the Future of Europe 181 von der Leyen stated her agreement with the report 182 prepared by panels of randomly selected EU citizens that the Union needed to move away from unanimous voting in the Council when it comes to foreign policy decisions 183 In a June Politico interview she expressed that her views had been shaped by the slow pace of the Union in adopting sanctions against Belarus and Russia due to unanimity requirements 184 She has stated however that the Union should not completely move away from unanimity 184 nbsp Von der Leyen with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in Brussels 3 November 2022Russian invasion of Ukraine edit nbsp Von der Leyen with President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv 15 September 2022During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine von der Leyen travelled to Kyiv to support the Ukrainian people 174 175 176 177 178 Controversy over gas deliveries from Azerbaijan edit nbsp Von der Leyen with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev 18 July 2022On 18 July 2022 von der Leyen called Azerbaijan a reliable partner for energy supply 185 later signing an agreement with Azerbaijan government intended to diversify gas supplies in the context of the ongoing Russian Ukraine war 2022 186 This sparked controversy when Azerbaijan attacked its neighbour Armenia just a few months later and Azeri soldiers committed various documented atrocities including rapes and the murder of prisoners of war Human rights activists claim that an EU president cannot condemn one dictator while embracing another which was also expressed in the EU parliament by Martin Sonneborn 187 188 189 190 The deal will double Azerbaijan s natural gas imports through the Southern Gas Corridor by 2027 191 2023 edit nbsp Von der Leyen with President of Israel Isaac Herzog in Brussels 25 January 2023 nbsp Von der Leyen with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan 2023 NATO summit in Vilnius 12 July 2023 nbsp Von der Leyen with President of Brazil Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in Brussels 17 July 2023 nbsp Von der Leyen with Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and other leaders at the International Conference on Development and Migration in Rome 23 July 2023 nbsp Von der Leyen with Prime Minister of Poland Donald Tusk in Brussels 15 December 2023In April von der Leyen issued a video statement celebrating Israel s 75th Independence Day noting that the Jewish People could finally build a home in the Promised Land adding that You have literally made the desert bloom 192 In October 2023 von der Leyen condemned the military operation by Azerbaijan against the Armenian population of Nagorno Karabakh and reaffirmed the need to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Armenia 193 During the October 2023 Israel Hamas war von der Leyen condemned the indiscriminate attacks by the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas on Israel calling it terrorism in its most despicable form and saying Israel has the right to defend itself against such heinous attacks 194 She announced that humanitarian aid to Gaza would be tripled 195 Remarks at the Beyond Growth conference edit In May 2023 at the Beyond Growth conference in the European Parliament Ursula von der Leyen moderately criticized GDP based economy saying that a growth model centred on fossil fuels is simply obsolete and economic growth is not an end in itself Approximately one hour later the European Commission presented its economic forecast which talked about GDP and inflation without presenting any other parameters When Economy Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni was asked whether the commission will change its mode of economy measuring following von der Leyer criticism he answered the Commission was considering a stronger role not only for the environmental dimension but the social dimension in its recommendation and policies 196 197 Von der Leyen remarks came as part of a debate in the European Union whether it possible to not pass Planetary boundaries in a GDP based economy 198 EU Deforestation Regulation edit The European Commission officially approved a measure to phase out palm oil based biofuels by 2030 199 200 During a meeting with von der Leyen Indonesian President Joko Widodo expressed concern about the EU Deforestation Regulation EUDR which aims to prevent products linked to deforestation from reaching the EU market 201 Migrant crisis in Italy edit In 2022 the European Union recorded the highest number of unauthorized migrant arrivals since 2016 202 Von der Leyen tried to strike a deal with Tunisia s authoritarian President Kais Saied with a focus on stopping illegal migration from Tunisia to Italy In September 2023 more than 120 boats carrying around 7 000 migrants from Africa arrived on the Italian island of Lampedusa within 24 hours 203 Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni declared that she wrote to von der Leyen to ask her to come with me to Lampedusa to personally realize the gravity of the situation we face and to immediately accelerate the implementation of the agreement with Tunisia by transferring the agreed resources 204 Other activities edit nbsp President von der Leyen with Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi New Delhi on 25 April 2022Von der Leyen is a member of the German branch of the European Movement 205 She is or has been also a member of several boards of trustees Total E Quality initiative Member of the Board of Trustees 206 Madchenchor Hannover Member of the Board of Trustees 207 World Economic Forum WEF Member of the Board of Trustees 2016 2019 208 World Economic Forum on the Middle East and North Africa Co chair 2017 209 Munich Security Conference Member of the Advisory Council 2013 2019 210 2011 FIFA Women s World Cup Member of the Board of Trustees 2010 2011 211 Political views editChildcare and parental leave edit Ursula von der Leyen assumed her office as Federal Minister for Family Affairs Senior Citizens Women and Youth in 2005 Amidst protest particularly from the conservative wing of her party the CDU she introduced the Child Advancement Act de Kinderforderungsgesetz which reserved 4 3 billion euros for the creation of childcare structures throughout Germany 212 Von der Leyen also introduced the German Elternzeit a paid parental leave scheme Following Scandinavian models the scheme reserves two additional months for fathers who go on parental leave as well Vatermonate in German This part of the law in particular attracted protest from some German conservatives Catholic Bishop Walter Mixa accused von der Leyen of turning women into birthing machines Meanwhile Bavarian colleagues from von der Leyen s sister party the CSU complained that men did not need a diaper changing internship 213 von der Leyen successfully influenced public opinion of her reforms with a 3 million euro PR campaign which was criticized for using public funds for political advocacy and for employing embedded marketing techniques 214 Blocking internet child pornography edit nbsp Demonstration on 17 April 2009 against internet censorshipUrsula von der Leyen advocated the initiation of a mandatory blockage of child pornography on the Internet through service providers via a block list maintained by the Federal Criminal Police Office of Germany BKA thus creating the necessary infrastructure for extensive censorship of websites deemed illegal by the BKA 215 These actions brought her the nickname Zensursula a portmanteau word blending the German word for censorship Zensur and her given name Ursula 216 The combination of a sensitive topic like child pornography and internet censorship is said to have caused a rising interest in the Pirate Party 217 In July 2009 she referred to the problems of struggling against paedophile pornography on the internet as the responsible persons often use servers located in Africa or India where she said child pornography is legal 218 219 This claim was based on a 2006 study by the International Centre for Missing amp Exploited Children 220 However child pornography is in fact illegal in India which has much stricter rules about erotic media than Germany She later expressed regret for having cited an inaccurate study 221 Von der Leyen was in charge of the request to ban and rate the Rammstein album Liebe ist fur alle da by the Federal Review Board for Media Harmful to Minors 222 Women board quota edit In 2013 von der Leyen unsuccessfully campaigned for a statutory quota for female participation in the supervisory boards of companies in Germany requiring company boards to be at least 20 female by 2018 rising to 40 by 2023 223 German foreign policy edit nbsp Von der Leyen with U S President Donald Trump in January 2020Von der Leyen is a proponent of a more assertive German foreign policy 224 225 One striking example was the decision in September 2014 to send arms to Kurdish and Iraqi security forces This decision broke a longstanding taboo on Germany s dispatching of weapons to a conflict zone 122 nbsp Von der Leyen and Russian President Vladimir Putin at the International Conference on Libya 19 January 2020On the deteriorating relationship between Europe and Russia during the 2014 Crimean crisis she argued that the reliance on a functioning business relationship with Europe is much much bigger in Russia and that sanctions should prod the oligarchs and Russian business 226 She also called for more significant NATO backing of the Baltic states amid the Crimean dispute 227 nbsp Von der Leyen and Henry Kissinger at the Munich Security Conference in 2014Von der Leyen has supported close security cooperation with Saudi Arabia 228 German opposition parties criticized Germany s defence plan with Saudi Arabia which has been waging war in Yemen and was condemned for massive human rights violations 229 230 In 2016 von der Leyen caused controversy after she refused to wear a hijab while visiting Saudi Arabia She said It annoys me when women are to be pushed into wearing the abaya 231 In 2017 von der Leyen noted that healthy democratic resistance of the younger generation in Poland must be supported 232 In some Polish media it was understood that she instigated opposition aimed to overthrow the allegedly anti democratic and authoritarian PiS government the statement was branded as scandalous 233 The Polish Foreign Minister made sarcastic comments about Prussian tone of the Ode to Joy 234 The Polish Minister of Defence summoned the Germany military attache and demanded explanations 235 The German embassy in Warsaw and spokesman for the German defence ministry in Berlin issued conciliatory statements 236 The German media mostly ignored the incident some acknowledged a minor slip of the tongue 237 on the part of von der Leyen yet also noted that German Polish relations were severely damaged 238 Von der Leyen responded to Donald Trump s criticism of the Russian backed Nord Stream 2 a pipeline for delivering natural gas from Russia to Germany in an interview with the BBC We have an independent energy supply we are an independent country we are just diversifying 239 European integration edit nbsp Manfred Weber Annegret Kramp Karrenbauer and von der Leyen in April 2019In a 2011 interview with Der Spiegel von der Leyen expressed her preference for a united states of Europe run along the lines of the federal states of Switzerland Germany or the USA which would capitalize on Europe s size by agreeing on core issues relating to finance tax and economic politics 240 With 2014 marking the centenary of the start of World War I von der Leyen in her capacity as defence minister inaugurated a memorial for the Armistice Day in Ablain Saint Nazaire alongside French President Francois Hollande and North Rhine Westphalia State Premier Hannelore Kraft as well as British and Belgian officials 241 In 2015 von der Leyen argued that a form of EU army should be a long term goal She also said that she was convinced about the goal of a combined military force just as she was convinced that perhaps not my children but then my grandchildren will experience a United States of Europe 242 In March 2015 she and her counterparts from France and Poland Jean Yves Le Drian and Tomasz Siemoniak revived a meeting format intended to promote cooperation between the three countries in crisis zones by holding their first meeting between the Weimar Triangle defence ministers since 2007 243 nbsp Von der Leyen with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte 3 November 2022Following the 2016 European Union membership referendum in the United Kingdom she argued that the UK had paralysed European efforts to integrate security policy and consistently blocked everything with the label Europe on it 244 She has described Brexit as a burst bubble of hollow promises 245 In an interview with The Guardian days after her election to succeed Jean Claude Juncker as President of the European Commission she stated that the withdrawal deal agreed between Theresa May and chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier would remain the basis of any future talks She also stated that the EU should extend the Brexit deadline beyond 31 October 2019 246 In November 2019 at Paris Peace Forum von der Leyen said that there is need for stable and responsible leadership in Europe and that the bloc must increase foreign policy budget spending by one third 247 On 7 September 2023 Ursula von der Leyen met the UAE President Mohammad bin Zayed in Abu Dhabi The meeting included a discussion on the export of sanctioned goods through the Gulf state to Russia She asked MbZ to be more cooperative and constructive in handling the issue The EU expected the UAE to stop being a mediator supplying sanctioned goods to Russia It had already sanctioned several Emirati entities that were alleged of directly supporting Russia s war 248 Human rights in China edit See also Uyghur genocide and China European Union relations nbsp Ursula von der Leyen French President Emmanuel Macron and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing China 6 April 2023Von der Leyen and French President Emmanuel Macron raised the issue of human rights in China during their visit to China in April 2023 amid growing international criticism of China s repression of ethnic minorities political dissidents and civil society activists 249 They expressed their concerns over the situation in Xinjiang where the Chinese government has detained an estimated one million Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims in re education camps subjected them to forced labor surveillance and genocide 250 They also urged China to respect the autonomy and freedoms of Hong Kong 251 Same sex marriage edit When the Federal Constitutional Court ruled in favour of tax equality for same sex couples in 2013 von der Leyen came forward in support of equal adoption rights arguing that I know of no study that says that children growing up in same sex partnerships fare any differently than children who grow up in heterosexual marriages or partnerships 252 In June 2017 von der Leyen voted against her parliamentary group s majority and in favour of Germany s introduction of same sex marriage 253 Israel Palestine edit nbsp Von der Leyen with Israeli President Isaac Herzog in Brussels January 2023On the 75th anniversary of Israel s independence von der Leyen referred to Israel as a vibrant democracy in the Middle East that made the desert bloom These remarks were criticized by the foreign ministry of the Palestinian Authority 254 255 During the 2023 Israel Hamas war she was criticized for supporting Israel and not calling for a ceasefire 256 On 13 October 2023 she visited Israel to express solidarity with the country 257 Environment edit Ursula von der Leyen considers stopping climate change as a top priority citation needed She is promoting green regulation and initiatives citation needed She promoted the European Green Deal 258 She complained that Global markets are now flooded with cheaper Chinese electric cars and their price is kept artificially low by huge state subsidies 259 Honours editForeign honours edit nbsp Lithuania nbsp Grand Cross of the Order for Merits to Lithuania 2 March 2017 260 nbsp Mali nbsp Commander of the National Order of Mali 4 April 2016 261 nbsp Ukraine nbsp Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise 1st class 23 August 2022 262 Honorary degrees edit 2023 Honorary Doctorate Universite Toulouse Capitole 263 2022 Honorary Doctorate Ben Gurion University of the Negev 264 Other awards edit 2019 Forbes list of the World s 100 Most Powerful Women position 4 265 2020 Forbes list of the World s 100 Most Powerful Women position 4 265 2020 Global Citizen Prize for World Leader 266 2022 BBC 100 Women 267 2022 Global Goalkeeper Award presented by the Bill amp Melinda Gates Foundation s Goalkeepers program 268 269 2022 Forbes list of the World s 100 Most Powerful Women position 1 9 2023 Forbes list of the World s 100 Most Powerful Women position 1 10 Publications editUrsula von der Leyen C reaktives Protein als diagnostischer Parameter zur Erfassung eines Amnioninfektionssyndroms bei vorzeitigem Blasensprung und therapeutischem Entspannungsbad in der Geburtsvorbereitung doctoral dissertation Hannover Medical School 1990 270 Ursula von der Leyen Maria von Welser Wir mussen unser Land fur die Frauen verandern in German C Bertelsmann Verlag Munich 2007 ISBN 978 3 570 00959 8 Ursula von der Leyen Liz Mohn Familie gewinnt in German Verlag Bertelsmann Stiftung Gutersloh 2007 ISBN 978 3 89204 927 2Notes edit The process for electing the president of the European Commission is described in Article 17 7 of the Treaty on European Union 7 The European Commission president Jean Claude Juncker criticized Von der Leyen s decision saying I don t like the idea that the European way of life is opposed to migration Accepting those that come from far away is part of the European way of life 145 Philippe Lamberts the president of the Greens European Free Alliance at the European Parliament said An all white European Commission claiming to protect our European way of life is a far cry from the idea of unity in diversity on which this union is built Von der Leyen must present a better proposal 146 References edit a b Arne Delfs 22 January 2014 Merkel Succession Beckons After Von der Leyen s Defence Posting Businessweek a b Fallon Michael 3 July 2019 Yes Ursula von der Leyen is an EU federalist but she knows she can t afford to alienate Britain The Telegraph Archived from the original on 11 January 2022 via www telegraph co uk Barnes Joe 4 July 2023 Joe Biden pushes for Ursula von der Leyen to be Nato chief The Telegraph ISSN 0307 1235 Retrieved 28 November 2023 a b First woman nominated to lead EU Commission BBC 2 July 2019 Retrieved 2 July 2019 a b EU leaders pick Germany s von der Leyen to lead Commission POLITICO 2 July 2019 Retrieved 2 July 2019 a b MEPs back von der Leyen as EU Commission head BBC News 16 July 2019 Consolidated version of the Treaty on European Union TITLE III PROVISIONS ON THE INSTITUTIONS Article 17 eur lex europa eu Official Journal of the European Union Retrieved 8 July 2019 Statement by President von der Leyen on Russian accountability and the use of Russian frozen assets European Commission Retrieved 1 December 2022 a b The World s Most Powerful Women 2022 Forbes 6 December 2022 Archived from the original on 28 November 2023 Retrieved 29 December 2023 a b The World s Most Powerful Women 2023 Forbes 5 December 2023 Archived from the original on 5 December 2023 Retrieved 29 December 2023 Ursula von der Leyen eine Karriere www ndr de Archived from the original on 16 July 2019 Barker Alex Peel Michael Jones Claire Mount Ian Roberts Hannah 2 July 2019 Christine Lagarde and Ursula von der Leyen meet the EU s next leaders Financial Times Retrieved 2 July 2019 Ursula von der Leyen Biografie WHO S WHO www whoswho de Tony Paterson 15 December 2013 Ursula von der Leyen Is this the next woman to become Chancellor of Germany The Independent Der denkmalgeschutzte Bau drohte zu verfallen Altes Knoop Mausoleum fur 90000 Euro restauriert Bild in German Retrieved 1 December 2011 Alexander Samuel Salley ed Register of the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America in the State of South Carolina p 35 National Society of the Colonial Dames of America in the State of South Carolina 1945 Albrecht in Deutsches Geschlechterbuch Vol 17 Gorlitz 1910 Arthur Meredyth Burke The Prominent Families of the United States of America Fischer Frauke 13 February 2015 Ehrengast mit Bremer Wurzeln WESER KURIER Chi e Ursula von der Leyen che sara la nuova presidente della Commissione Europea Il Post 2 July 2019 Erik Kirschbaum 22 April 2013 Feisty German minister stands up to Merkel Reuters Ursula von der Leyen in German Wirtschaftswoche Archived from the original on 2 March 2016 Retrieved 3 January 2016 Scally Derek 2 July 2019 Ursula von der Leyen profile Who is proposed new EU Commission president Dublin The Irish Times Retrieved 9 October 2023 Katholische Nachrichten Agentur Jens Joest 27 November 2019 Wie christlich ist die EU Kommission unter Ursula von der Leyen How Christian is the EU Commission under Ursula von der Leyen Kirche Leben Church Life in German Munster Dialog Medien Publicity GmbH Retrieved 7 September 2023 Alice von Bota 29 December 2006 Small Talk auf hochster Ebene Tagesspiegel in German Retrieved 1 December 2011 Valero Carmen 4 July 2019 Baronesa con siete hijos y un castillo asi es Ursula von der Leyen presidenta de la Comision Europea El Mundo in Spanish Retrieved 21 June 2021 ONLINE RP 12 August 2015 Reit EM Von der Leyen macht im Sattel eine gute Figur RP ONLINE LSE alumna Ursula von der Leyen elected EU Commission head London School of Economics and Political Science 17 July 2019 Retrieved 23 July 2019 a b Mendick Robert Huggler Justin 3 July 2019 Ursula von der Leyen nominee for EU top job lived in London under alias to escape Baader Meinhof gang The Telegraph Archived from the original on 11 January 2022 via telegraph co uk Crossland David 15 December 2013 Heir to Angela Merkel appointed Germany s first female defence minister The Daily Telegraph Archived from the original on 11 January 2022 Dr Ursula von der Leyen Christlich Demokratische Union Deutschlands 14 March 2013 Archived from the original on 2 July 2019 Retrieved 2 July 2019 Magnis Constantin September 2013 Roschen geht in die Verteidigung Rosie goes military Cicero in German Bittner Jochen Dausend Peter 20 June 2016 Mehr gelebt als studiert Zeit Online in German Retrieved 21 June 2021 Who is Germany s Ursula von der Leyen the surprise candidate set to take the EU s top job thelocal de 3 July 2019 Germany Appoints 1st Female Defense Minister Defense News 16 December 2013 Ursula Gertrud von der Leyen C reaktives Protein als diagnostischer Parameter zur Erfassung eines Amnioninfektionssyndroms bei vorzeitigem Blasensprung und therapeutischem Entspannungsbad in der Geburtsvorbereitung Katalog der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek Thesis Moulson Geir 2 July 2019 Von der Leyen pro EU fixture in Merkel s Cabinets AP News Who is Ursula von der Leyen the New EU Commission President Time Rahlf Katharina 30 June 2009 Lorenz Robert Micus Matthias eds Ursula von der Leyen Seiteneinsteigerin in zweiter Generation in German Springer Verlag p 278 ISBN 978 3 531 91569 2 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a work ignored help Biography of the Candidate for President European Union Directorate General for Communication European Commission Retrieved 26 December 2022 Amann Melanie 26 September 2015 Verteidigungsministerin Plagiatsjager nehmen sich von der Leyens Doktorarbeit vor Spiegel Online in German Retrieved 30 July 2019 German Defense Minister Von der Leyen denies plagiarism DW Deutsche Welle Retrieved 2 August 2019 Ursula von der Leyen Kritiker bewerten Arbeit als eindeutiges Plagiat WELT 28 September 2015 Retrieved 30 July 2019 a b Plagiatsaffare Von der Leyen darf Doktortitel behalten Spiegel Online 9 March 2016 Retrieved 30 July 2019 a b c Greiner Lena Gebauer Matthias Topper Verena 9 March 2016 Trotz Plagiaten Darum darf von der Leyen ihren Doktor behalten Spiegel Online in German Retrieved 30 July 2019 Muller Reinhard 10 March 2016 Von der Leyen und Plagiat Doktorspiele Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in German ISSN 0174 4909 Retrieved 30 July 2019 Warnecke Tilmann Burchard Amory 9 March 2016 Ursula von der Leyen darf Doktortitel behalten Der Tagesspiegel in German Retrieved 30 July 2019 Who is EU commission president Ursula von der Leyen Euronews Retrieved 16 July 2019 Who is new EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen euronews 16 July 2019 German Opposition Split Over Reforms Deutsche Welle 8 October 2003 Matthew Tempest 17 August 2005 Merkel unveils cabinet ahead of German elections The Guardian Dempsey Judy 18 August 2005 Merkel puts small team forward New York Times Archived from the original on 27 April 2014 Timot Szent Ivanyi 25 October 2005 Gutverdiener sollen hohere Kassenbeitrage zahlen Archived 10 January 2016 at the Wayback Machine Berliner Zeitung Bilateral agreements reached at first Israeli German 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A400M delays Reuters Andrea Shalal 10 February 2017 German Dutch militaries agree to deepen cooperation source Reuters Franz Stefan Gady 27 May 2015 Will India Purchase German Stealth Submarines The Diplomat Douglas Busvine 27 May 2015 Germany lobbies India to buy Eurofighters submarines Reuters Surge in German arms sales to Saudi Arabia and Turkey Deutsche Welle 10 January 2019 Germany s Angela Merkel makes arms export pact with France Deutsche Welle 18 February 2019 Chazan Guy 13 February 2020 Ursula von der Leyen tries to contain fallout over consultant Financial Times Delcker Janosch 15 July 2019 The scandal hanging over Ursula von der Leyen POLITICO Von Der Burchard Hans 14 January 2020 Von der Leyen under pressure over second wiped phone POLITICO Knight Ben 21 December 2019 German Defense Ministry illegally wiped phone data of Ursula von der Leyen DW Scott Mark 21 December 2019 German lawmaker files criminal complaint over von der Leyen s wiped phone POLITICO Schlechtes Ergebnis fur von der Leyen Spiegel Online 7 December 2018 Merkels Erben Philipp Wittrock Spiegel Online 6 December 2016 Hintergrund Das neue CDU Prasidium General Anzeiger 9 December 2014 Stefan Wagstyl 9 December 2014 Merkel eyes relief for German taxpayers Financial Times Dempsey Judy 16 December 2013 Merkel s Surprise A Woman in Charge of Defense Carnegie Endowment Merkel takes oath of office begins third term Deutsche Welle 17 December 2013 a b Alison Smale 28 September 2014 Seeking Global Role German Military Stumbles New York Times Stefan Wagstyl 5 October 2014 German defence ministry and arms industry come under fire Financial Times Who are the EU s new leaders EUobserver 2 July 2019 An interview with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg Foreign Policy Wird von der Leyen die nachste Nato Generalsekretarin FAZ Von der Leyen als Nato Generalsekretarin im Gesprach Die Welt Schiltz Christoph B 17 February 2018 Verteidigungsministerin Ursula von der Leyen als Nato Generalsekretarin im Gesprach Die Welt via www welt de Oltermann Philip 4 July 2019 Not the best candidate Germans condemn own choice for top EU job The Guardian Retrieved 7 April 2021 Barigazzi Jacopo Herszenhorn David M Bayer Lili 2 July 2019 EU leaders pick Germany s von der Leyen to lead Commission POLITICO europe Retrieved 2 July 2019 Donahue Patrick Bodoni Stephanie 2 July 2018 EU Leaders Tap Germany s Von Der Leyen as Commission Chief Bloomberg Retrieved 8 July 2019 EU Kommission Von der Leyen sagt Krebs den Kampf an Retrieved 6 December 2019 Ursula von der Leyen A Union that strives for more My agenda for Europe By candidate for President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen 2019 p 11 https ec europa eu commission sites be ta political files political guidelines next commission en pdf Johnston Karin L November 2021 Advancing Gender Equality in the European Union PDF Women In International Security Kostaki Irene 5 July 2019 Commission prepares for von der Leyen transition New Europe Retrieved 8 July 2019 Deutscher Bundestag Ausgeschiedene Abgeordnete der 19 Wahlperiode German Bundestag Outgoing Members of the 19th legislature Deutscher Bundestag in German Retrieved 16 October 2019 EU Mercosur deal divides both sides of the Atlantic EURACTIV 11 July 2019 Amazon fires spark European rift at G7 over Mercosur trade deal Deutsche Welle 24 August 2019 We must not barter the Amazon rainforest for burgers and steaks The Guardian 2 July 2019 a b Timmermans unhappy with Dombrovskis unexpected promotion www euractiv com EURACTIV 11 September 2019 a b Schumacher Elizabeth 11 September 2019 EU post to protect European way of life called disgusting reprehensible www dw com Deutsche Welle Jon Stone 11 September 2019 EU accused of adopting fascist rhetoric with new Commissioner For Protecting Our European Way of Life to oversee immigration policy The Independent Nielsen Nikolaj 10 September 2019 Migration is now protecting European way of life euobserver com EUobserver New EU post to protect European Way of Life slammed as grotesque Reuters 10 September 2019 Juncker criticizes von der Leyen over European way of life commissioner Politico 12 September 2019 EU Parliament Chief Questions European Way of Life Title The New York Times 12 September 2019 Delcker Janosch 15 July 2019 The scandal hanging over Ursula von der Leyen Politico Retrieved 31 October 2023 Defense Ministry illegally wiped von der Leyen s phone www dw com DW 21 December 2019 Coronavirus EU rules out Schengen border closures amid Italy outbreak Deutsche Welle 24 February 2020 Salvini and Le Pen Don t Have a Coronavirus Cure Bloomberg 25 February 2020 Matina Stevis Gridneff 28 February 2020 Coronavirus Europe s open borders threatened by spread of disease The Independent Coronavirus European borders likely to remain open despite crisis in Italy observers say South China Morning Post 7 March 2020 Coronavirus Nightmare Could Be the End for Europe s Borderless Dream The New York Times 26 February 2020 Archived from the original on 26 February 2020 Denmark Poland and Czechs seal borders over coronavirus Financial Times 12 March 2020 EU condemns Trump travel ban from Europe as virus spreads Associated Press AP 12 March 2020 EU Calls for Sanctions on Belarus After Disputed Elections VOA News 14 August 2020 a b Silvia Amaro The EU sanctions Belarus after state terrorism but experts aren t convinced they ll work CNBC 25 May 2021 Merkel and Macron vow to preserve EU sovereignty in eastern Mediterranean Euractiv 21 August 2020 Explainer Why is a submarine deal sparking a diplomatic crisis www aljazeera com EU chief Treatment of France not acceptable CNN 20 September 2021 Aukus row EU officials demand apology from Australia over France s treatment before trade talks The Guardian 21 September 2021 EU chief says key to energy crisis is pushing Green Deal Associated Press 20 October 2021 The Green Brief East West EU split again over climate Euractiv 20 October 2021 Energy crisis The blame game has begun but are some of the claims just hot air Sky News 22 September 2021 It is tempting to blame foreigners for Europe s gas crisis The main culprit is closer to home The Economist 16 October 2021 Europe s energy crisis Continent too reliant on gas says von der Leyen Euronews 20 October 2021 EU leaders condemn Hamas attacks The European Times 16 May 2021 EU nations should debate mandatory vaccination says von der Leyen euronews 1 December 2021 Stevis Gridneff Matina 28 April 2021 How Europe Sealed a Pfizer Vaccine Deal With Texts and Calls The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved 10 July 2022 Von der Leyen text messages to Pfizer CEO should be released euronews 28 January 2022 Retrieved 10 July 2022 Rankin Jennifer 29 June 2022 European Commission defiant over Von der Leyen s Pfizer texts the Guardian Retrieved 10 July 2022 European Parliament chiefs block public scrutiny of von der Leyen over Pfizer contract POLITICO 16 February 2023 Retrieved 28 November 2023 Ukrayina maye vstupiti do YeS prezident Yevrokomisiyi Slovo i Dilo in Ukrainian Retrieved 17 June 2022 a b Ukraine war Ursula von der Leyen s traumatic visit to Bucha The EU stands with you she tells Zelensky South China Morning Post 9 April 2022 a b As it happened EU s Von der Leyen promises to speed up Ukraine membership process FRANCE 24 8 April 2022 a b Tito Claudio 8 April 2022 Ursula von der Leyen a Kiev per rassicurare Zelensky e sfidare Putin Dobbiamo dare un segnale la Repubblica a b Unthinkable Ursula von der Leyen shown mass grave in Bucha Guardian News YouTube 8 April 2022 a b Press conference in Ukraine by President von der Leyen HRVP Borrell and President Zelensky European Commission YouTube 9 April 2022 EU oil ban adds pressure on Russia but obstacles remain Analysts Al Jazeera 12 May 2022 What are Europe s energy alternatives now that Russian gas is off the cards Euronews 27 April 2022 Conference on the Future of Europe European Commission Retrieved 15 October 2022 Council of the European Union General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union 2022 Conference on the Future of Europe Report on the Final Outcome PDF European Union doi 10 2860 637445 ISBN 9789282487488 Retrieved 15 October 2022 p 39 We citizens want a Europe in which decisions are made transparently and quickly where the unanimity principle is reconsidered and in which we citizens are regularly and seriously involved Von der Leyen backs ending unanimous voting in some areas of EU euronews 9 May 2022 Retrieved 15 October 2022 a b Herszenhorn David M 20 June 2022 Commission president calls to end unanimity in EU foreign policy decisions POLITICO Retrieved 15 October 2022 The EU is turning to more reliable energy suppliers Twitter 18 July 2022 Press corner European Commission European Commission Retrieved 31 March 2023 Martin Sonneborn criticises Ursula Von der Leyen Youtube in German 16 September 2022 By choosing Azerbaijan as a gas supplier Ursula von der Leyen weakens the European Union Le Monde 29 July 2022 Retrieved 12 October 2022 Scharfe Kritik an Von der Leyen im EU Parlament Europa nicht den Leyen uberlassen exxpress 15 September 2022 Retrieved 12 October 2022 EU looks to autocracies in search for energy EURACTIV 19 July 2022 Retrieved 12 October 2022 EU agrees deal with Azerbaijan to double gas exports by Euronews 19 July 2022 Ursula Von der Leyen slammed for You have literally made the desert bloom message to Israel Middle East Monitor 27 April 2023 Retrieved 8 October 2023 Joint Statement by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan 5 October 2023 neighbourhood enlargement ec europa eu von der Leyen Ursula vonderleyen 7 October 2023 I unequivocally condemn the attack carried out by Hamas terrorists against Israel It is terrorism in its most despicable form Israel has the right to defend itself against such heinous attacks Tweet via Twitter EU calls Gaza war summit triples aid to Palestinians EUobserver 15 October 2023 Allenbach Ammann Janos 15 May 2023 EU Commission chief Growth model based on fossil fuels simply obsolete Euractive Retrieved 8 June 2023 Fossil fuel centred growth is obsolete says EU s von der Leyen Reuters 15 May 2023 Retrieved 8 June 2023 Allenbach Ammann Janos 25 May 2023 The case for engaging with post growth economics Euractive Retrieved 8 June 2023 Palm Oil Exporter Indonesia Concerned by EU s Deforestation Law Jakarta Globe 22 May 2022 EU palm oil use and imports seen plummeting by 2032 Reuters 8 December 2022 Indonesia Malaysia Deploy Ministers To Push Back on EU Palm Oil Restrictions The New Lens 31 May 2023 Europe saw unauthorized migrant entry attempts hit a six year high in 2022 CBS News 13 January 2023 What s behind the surge in migrant arrivals to Italy AP News 15 September 2023 Retrieved 17 September 2023 Migrants Meloni Von der Leyen come to Lampedusa Extraordinary measures in the Council of Ministers on Monday Italy 24 Press News 15 September 2023 Ursula von der Leyen Europa Union Deutschland Board of Trustees Total E Quality Board of Trustees Archived 2 February 2017 at the Wayback Machine Madchenchor Hannover Foundation World Economic Forum Announces New Board of Trustees World Economic Forum press release of 25 August 2016 Meeting Overview 2017 World Economic Forum on the Middle East and North Africa World Economic Forum Advisory Council Munich Security Conference WM Kuratorium unter Vorsitz von Dr Thomas Bach FIFA press release of 30 September 2008 BMFSFJ Pressemitteilungen Ursula von der Leyen Der Weg zum Ausbau der Kinderbetreuung ist frei 23 March 2010 Archived from the original on 23 March 2010 Bennhold Katrin 17 January 2010 Full portrait of von der Leyen s work The New York Times Press release Getarnte Werbung Die fragwurdigen PR Kampagnen der Bundesregierung Archived 21 December 2016 at the Wayback Machine Stealth advertising The questionable PR campaigns of the federal government Report Mainz Sudwestrundfunk 27 August 2007 in German Focus Online Kinderpornografie Der Traum von der Internetsperrung in German Der Spiegel Online Zensursula geht in die Offensive in German Reissmann Ole 16 October 2009 Stoppschild fur Zensursula Spiegel Online in German Spiegel de Retrieved 6 September 2011 MDR Interview Archived from the original on 13 July 2011 online heise 7 July 2009 Familienministerium halt an Zahlen zur Verbreitung von Kinderpornographie fest heise online Peters Katharina Graca 15 July 2009 Achtung von Kinderpornografie Von der Leyen bruskiert Indien mit falscher Anschuldigung Spiegel Online MDR de Von der Leyen gesteht Fehler ein Archived from the original on 25 July 2011 Rammstein Liebe Ist Fur Alle Da wird verboten Laut de Retrieved 1 December 2011 Quentin Peel 14 April 2013 Merkel faces snub over women board quotas Financial Times Alison Smale 1 February 2014 Spurred by Global Crises Germany Weighs a More Muscular Foreign Policy The New York Times German foreign policy No more shirking The Economist 8 February 2014 Alison Smale 12 March 2014 Ukraine Crisis Limits Merkel s Rapport with Putin The New York Times German defense chief von der Leyen calls for stronger NATO backing in Ukraine crisis Deutsche Welle 23 March 2014 German Bundeswehr to train Saudi army officers Deutsche Welle 8 December 2016 Opposition parties condemn German defence plan with Saudi Arabia The Local 8 December 2016 Germany to train Saudi soldiers despite Yemen war concerns Deutsche Welle 29 April 2019 German minister causes controversy after refusing to wear hijab on Saudi visit The Jerusalem Post 14 December 2016 Dieser gesunde demokratische Widerstand der jungen Generation dort auch in Polen die muss man unterstutzen Also es ist unsere Aufgabe auch sozusagen diesen Diskurs aufrecht zu erhalten Polen emport uber von der Leyen Ausserung bei Maybrit Illner in PI News service 6 November 2017 Retrieved 3 July 2019 Szef MON reaguje na skandaliczne slowa niemieckiej minister resortu obrony Antoni Macierewicz domaga sie zlozenia wyjasnien in WPolityce service 3 November 2017 Retrieved 3 July 2019 Skandaliczna wypowiedz niemieckiej minister obrony Jest reakcja ministra Macierewicza in Niezalezna service 3 November 2017 Retrieved 3 July 2019 Polska reaguje na skandaliczna wypowiedz niemieckiej minister Waszczykowski lagodnie Macierewicz ostrzej permanent dead link in PrawdaObiektywna service 4 November 2017 Retrieved 3 July 2019 Skandaliczna wypowiedz niemieckiej minister Polska odpowiada Waszczykowski lagodnie Macierewicz ostro in NajwyzszyCzas service 3 November 2017 Retrieved 3 July 2019 Skandaliczna wypowiedz niemieckiej minister Polska odpowiada Waszczykowski lagodnie Macierewicz ostro in Wolnosc24 service 3 November 2017 Retrieved 3 July 2019 He declared that von der Leyen tampered with Polish internal affairs speculated about a German tendency to influence Polish domestic politics and regretted reportedly increasingly patronizing German stand towards Poland Szef MON wzywa attache obrony Niemiec Lapsus jezykowy in PolskieRadio service 4 November 2017 Retrieved 3 July 2019 Waszczykowski Pomruki pruskiego tonu w tonacji Ody do radosci in Fronda service undated Retrieved 3 July 2019 Szef MON wzywa attache obrony Niemiec Lapsus jezykowy in PolskieRadio service 4 November 2017 Retrieved 3 July 2019 they claimed that German foreign policy was not forged on TV shows that von der Leyen s words were taken out of context and that the general tone of her statement was highly sympathetic towards Poland Attache obrony Niemiec wezwany do MON Ambasada Mamy nadzieje ze to konczy sprawe in GazetaPrawna service 6 November 2017 Retrieved 3 July 2019 Justyna Suchecka Ambasada Niemiec odpowiada Macierewiczowi Nie ksztaltujemy polityki w trakcie talk show in GazetaWyborcza service 4 November 2017 Retrieved 3 July 2019 kleinen Ausrutscher mostly because allegedly hysterical and oversensitive stand of the populist Warsaw government Endlich haben wir die deutschen Politiker erwischt permanent dead link in Spiegel Online service 8 November 2017 Retrieved 3 July 2019 similar tone in Gerhard Gnauck Philip Kuhn Von der Leyen lost Verstimmungen in Polen aus in Welt service 6 November 2017 Retrieved 3 July 2019 Trump and Merkel exchange barbs in showdown over Russia s pipeline Bloomberg 11 July 2018 Helen Pidd 12 March 2014 Ursula von der Leyen Germany s next chancellor The Guardian Natalie Muller 11 November 2014 Hollande von der Leyen Europe observe Armistice DayDeutsche Welle Juncker calls for collective EU army Deutsche Welle 8 March 2015 MoD Siemoniak EU needs new security strategy Polskie Radio 31 March 2015 Stefan Wagstyl 13 July 2016 Germany calls for more joint European military initiatives Financial Times Crisp James 2 July 2019 EU picks Ursula von der Leyen who called Brexit a burst bubble of hollow promises to be first woman to rule Brussels The Telegraph Archived from the original on 11 January 2022 via www telegraph co uk Oltermann Philip 18 July 2019 Ursula von der Leyen hard Brexit would be massive blow for both sides The Guardian ISSN 0261 3077 Retrieved 18 July 2019 Next EU Commission chief wants to increase foreign spending 660 News Retrieved 12 November 2019 Nardelli Alberto Baschuk Bryce 7 September 2023 EU Chief Presses UAE President on Russia Sanctions Evasion Bloomberg Retrieved 24 September 2023 China and Tibet Human Rights Watch 13 January 2023 Archived from the original on 18 January 2023 Retrieved 5 April 2023 European Commission chief s comments on Uyghurs fall short of expectations Radio Free Asia 7 April 2023 China 2022 Amnesty International 10 February 2023 Archived from the original on 25 November 2020 Retrieved 5 April 2023 Melanie Amann Dietmar Hipp and Peter Muller 11 June 2013 Vater and Vater Gay Adoption Debate Flusters Conservatives Der Spiegel Carsten Wagner 30 June 2017 Ehe fur alle Niedersachsen CDU uneins in Berlin Norddeutscher Rundfunk EU s Israeli independence message rebuked in Palestine Al Jazeera Palestinians condemn EU s von der Leyen for racist trope BBC Von der Leyen accused of unacceptable bias toward Israel Politico 14 October 2023 Malingre Virginie 24 October 2023 Von der Leyen fuels EU discontent after closely watched Israel visit Le Monde Von der Leyen outlines next phase of European Green Deal with heavy industry focus Euractiv 13 September 2023 Von der Leyen flexes green business muscles before EU polls Deutsche Welle 13 September 2023 Germany s defmin to get high Lithuanian state award Delfi Cooperation militaire Mali Allemagne Mme Ursula Von Der Leyen decoree news abamako Ukaz Prezidenta Ukrayini 595 2022 President of Ukraine in Ukrainian Retrieved 10 September 2022 Ursula von der Leyen a Toulouse qu est ce que le titre honoris causa que la Presidente de la Commission europeenne a recu midilibre fr in French 9 June 2023 Ben Gurion University of the Negev Conferment Ceremony of an Honorary Doctoral Degree upon Dr Ursula Von Der Leyen in bgu ac il Retrieved 14 June 2022 a b The World s 100 Most Powerful Women Forbes Retrieved 24 December 2020 Bryer Tania 21 December 2020 European Commission s Ursula von der Leyen wins Global Citizen prize after turbulent year CNBC Retrieved 17 February 2021 BBC 100 Women 2022 Who is on the list this year BBC News Retrieved 10 December 2022 Beaty Thalia 21 September 2022 Gates Foundation prods UN honors inspiration as Goalkeepers AP News Retrieved 8 October 2023 Pasquini Maria 22 September 2022 Bill and Melinda Gates Reunite for Foundation 1 Year After Divorce We re Completely Committed to This Peoplemag Retrieved 8 October 2023 DNB Katalog der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek Thesis in German Portal d nb de Retrieved 1 December 2011 External links edit nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ursula von der Leyen nbsp Wikiquote has quotations related to Ursula von der Leyen Official websitePolitical officesPreceded byRenate Schmidt Minister of Family Affairs and Youth2005 2009 Succeeded byKristina SchroderPreceded byFranz Josef Jung Minister of Labour and Social Affairs2009 2013 Succeeded byAndrea NahlesPreceded byThomas de Maiziere Minister of Defence2013 2019 Succeeded byAnnegret Kramp KarrenbauerPreceded byGunther Oettinger German European Commissioner2019 present IncumbentPreceded byJean Claude Juncker President of the European Commission2019 present Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Ursula von der Leyen amp oldid 1192456658, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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