“Great news for Europe and the DGS and PPE: von der Leyen will be our candidate for President of the European Commission. She is the guarantor of the project set up by the DGS, a member of the PPE, for the future of the European Union. Thank you Ursula! Count on us !,” wrote Luis Montenegro on the social network X (formerly Twitter).
The head of the Social Democratic Party today considered that the nomination of Ursula von der Leyen from the European People's Party to the position of President of the European Commission, which she currently holds, “is great news for Europe.”
“Great news for Europe and the DGS and PPE: von der Leyen will be our candidate for President of the European Commission. She is the guarantor of the project set up by the DGS, a member of the PPE, for the future of the European Union. Thank you Ursula! Count on us !,” wrote Luis Montenegro on the social network X (formerly Twitter).
The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, announced today her candidacy for the position of “Spitzenkandidat” (list leader) of the European People's Party for the European elections scheduled for next June, with the aim of re-running at the head of the institution.
Party sources conducted by Lusa reported that the announcement was made by the leader of the communal executive authority at a meeting in Berlin of the German Christian Democratic Union Party, to which the responsible person belongs, to then be the main candidate for the European People's Party. For the European Parliament elections scheduled from 6 to 9 June 2024.
On Wednesday, the European People's Party is scheduled to hold a collective meeting at the headquarters of the European Parliament in Brussels to formalize the appointment, and at the end, the president of this European People's Party, Manfred Weber, and Ursula von der Leyen will speak to the press. .
After being officially named the “frontrunner” of the European People's Party, Ursula von der Leyen is expected to be confirmed as head of the list at the political group's summit scheduled for March 6 and 7 in the Romanian capital, Bucharest.
The character of the two main candidates – in the German term “Spitzenkandidat” – emerged in the 2014 European elections, as the largest European parties presented their picks for the future president of the European Commission.
Then, in 2019, an attempt was made to apply this model again, but due to disagreement between political groups, these leading candidates ended up not filling key European positions.
As the first woman to hold the presidency of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen was approved by the European Parliament in November 2019, by 461 votes in favour, 157 in favour, with 89 abstentions, in a decision taken by an absolute majority (half of the votes of MEPs in other positions) .
In mid-January, the Party of European Socialists announced that the current Luxembourgish European Commissioner for Employment and Social Rights, Nicolas Schmidt, was the sole candidate for the political family's “front-runner” in the European elections in June.
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