President of the EU Commission as of 1 December 2019: Who is Ursula von der Leyen, mother of 7 children?
Born in Brussels, the capital of Belgium, Ursula von der Leyen moved to Germany with her family when she was 13. She is the first woman to be elected president of the European Commission. Von der Leyen was accused of plagiarism in her dissertation while studying medicine. Here is her story:
Before entering politics, she studied economics at the London School of Economics and medicine at the University of Hanover.
Von der Leyen, a close ally of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, has since 2005 been a member of the German chancellor's conservative party, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU).
His appointment as the German Minister of Defense in 2013, after three months of negotiations between the CDU and the centre-left Social Democratic Party (SPD), was an unexpected development.
Since then, its popularity with the German public has increased day by day. Von der Leyen argued that the military presence of the German army in NATO should be increased.
Von der Leyen, 60, is also a supporter of close military cooperation within the EU.
But her position at the Department of Defense is seen more as a failure story than a success story.
In recent years, the deficiencies in the military capacity of the German army have been brought to the agenda.
A 2018 report concluded that personnel and equipment shortages in the German army "significantly" hindered the country's combat readiness.
Minister Von der Leyen was also questioned last year as part of an investigation into spending.
The Ministry of Defense was accused of transferring millions of euros to consulting companies under special agreements.
Von der Leyen admitted that there were irregularities in the agreements and announced that measures were taken to prevent this from happening again.
Von der Leyen was also accused of plagiarism in her dissertation during her medical education.
The commission formed at the university concluded that Von der Leyen did not properly reference the citations in her dissertation, but that this was not intentional and did not invalidate the idea in the thesis.
- Date of Birth: October 8, 1958
- Birthplace: Brussels
- Position: President of the EU Commission
Ursula von der Leyen, born in 1958, is married and has 7 children.
She served in the German Government from 2005 to 2019.
On 16 July 2019, von der Leyen's commission presidency was approved, with 383 votes out of 747 deputies (374 votes is enough). She resigned from her post as German defense minister the next day.
Leyen has pledged that, following her election as Commission President, she will focus on the climate agenda and work closely with the European Parliament to strengthen democracy and a fair social market economy in Europe.
EDUCATION LIFE
1964 – 1971 European School of Brussels
1971 – 1976 Lehrte High School
1977 – 1980 Studied economics in Göttingen and Münster.
1978 Studied economics in London.
1980 – 1987 Studied medicine at the Hannover School.
1991 PhD
2001 Master's degree in Public Health.
ACADEMIC CAREER
1988-1992 Assistant physician, Women's Clinic, Hannover Medical School
1993 Supervision: Graduate School of Business, Stanford University
1995 Market analysis, Stanford Health Services Hospital Administration
1998 – 2002 Hannover Medical School, Department of Social Medicine and Health System Studies, Department of Epidemiology
POLITICAL CAREER
1990 Member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU)
1999 CDU Physician Working Group Member
2001 – 2004 She held various local political positions in the Hanover Region.
2003 – 2005 Member of the CDU Lower Saxony State Assembly
March 2003 – November 2005 Minister of Social Security, Women, Family and Health in Lower Saxony
2004- Member of the Presidency of the German Christian Democratic Party (CDU)
2005 – 2009 Minister of Family, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth in Angela Merkel's cabinet
2009 Member of the German Bundestag
2009 – 2013 Minister of Labor and Social Affairs
2013 German Defense Minister
2019 EU Commission President