Ursula von der Leyen

Ursula von der Leyen
Ursula von der Leyen
	Official portrait, 2020
President of the European Commission
	Incumbent
	Assumed office ; 1 December 2019
First Vice-President	Margrethe Vestager; Frans Timmermans (2019-2023); Maroš Šefčovič (2023-present)
Preceded by	Jean-Claude Juncker
Minister of Defence
	In office; 17 December 2013 – 17 July 2019
Chancellor	Angela Merkel
Preceded by	Thomas de Maizière
Succeeded by	Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer
Minister of Labour and Social Affairs
	In office; 30 November 2009 – 17 December 2013
Chancellor	Angela Merkel
Preceded by	Franz Josef Jung
Succeeded by	Andrea Nahles
Minister of Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth
	In office; 22 November 2005 – 30 November 2009
Chancellor	Angela Merkel
Preceded by	Renate Schmidt
Succeeded by	Kristina Schröder
Leader
Party roles
Deputy Leader of the Christian Democratic Union
	In office; 15 November 2010 – 22 November 2019 Serving with Volker Bouffier, Julia Klöckner, Armin Laschet, Thomas Strobl
Leader	Angela Merkel; Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer
Preceded by	Christian Wulff
Succeeded by	Silvia Breher
Minister-President
Lower Saxony Cabinet
Minister of Social Affairs, Women and Families and Health
	In office; 4 March 2003 – 22 November 2005
Minister-President	Christian Wulff
Preceded by	Gitta Trauernicht
Succeeded by	Mechthild Ross-Luttmann
Preceded by
Parliamentary constituencies
Member of the Bundestag ; for Lower Saxony
	In office; 27 October 2009 – 31 July 2019
Preceded by	multi-member district
Succeeded by	Ingrid Pahlmann
Constituency	Christian Democratic Union List
Member of the; Landtag of Lower Saxony ; for Lehrte
	In office; 4 March 2003 – 7 December 2005
Preceded by	Gerhard Schröder (1998)
Succeeded by	Dorothee Prüssner
Personal details
Born	Ursula Gertrud Albrecht; 8 October 1958 (age 65); Ixelles, Belgium
Nationality	German
Political party	Christian Democratic Union (since 1990)
Spouse	Heiko von der Leyen; (m. 1986)
Children	7
Parent	Ernst Albrecht (father);
Relatives	Hans-Holger Albrecht (brother); Carl Albrecht; (grandfather);
Alma mater	University of Göttingen; University of Münster; London School of Economics; Hannover Medical School (MD, MPH)
Occupation	Politician; Physician; Research fellow;
Signature
Website	Official website

Ursula Gertrud von der Leyen (German: [ˈʊʁzula ˈɡɛʁtʁuːt fɔn deːɐ̯ 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 federal 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 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 from the London School of Economics in 1978, and in 1987, she acquired her medical license from Hanover Medical School. 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]

^ Arne Delfs (22 January 2014), "Merkel Succession Beckons After Von der Leyen's Defence Posting", Businessweek.
^ Cite error: The named reference telegraph2019 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ 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.
^ "First woman nominated to lead EU Commission". BBC. 2 July 2019. Retrieved 2 July 2019.
^ "EU leaders pick Germany's von der Leyen to lead Commission". POLITICO. 2 July 2019. Retrieved 2 July 2019.
^ "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.
^ "The World's Most Powerful Women 2022". Forbes. 6 December 2022. Archived from the original on 28 November 2023. Retrieved 29 December 2023.
^ "The World's Most Powerful Women 2023". Forbes. 5 December 2023. Archived from the original on 5 December 2023. Retrieved 29 December 2023.

Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).

[businessweek.com-1] Arne Delfs (22 January 2014), "Merkel Succession Beckons After Von der Leyen's Defence Posting", Businessweek.

[telegraph2019-2] Cite error: The named reference telegraph2019 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[3] 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.

[BBC-2019-4] "First woman nominated to lead EU Commission". BBC. 2 July 2019. Retrieved 2 July 2019.

[POLITICO-2019-5] "EU leaders pick Germany's von der Leyen to lead Commission". POLITICO. 2 July 2019. Retrieved 2 July 2019.

[BBCvote-6] "MEPs back von der Leyen as EU Commission head". BBC News. 16 July 2019.

[Article_17(7)_TEU-7] "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.

[9] "Statement by President von der Leyen on Russian accountability and the use of Russian frozen assets". European Commission. Retrieved 1 December 2022.

[Forbes2022-10] "The World's Most Powerful Women 2022". Forbes. 6 December 2022. Archived from the original on 28 November 2023. Retrieved 29 December 2023.

[Forbes2023-11] "The World's Most Powerful Women 2023". Forbes. 5 December 2023. Archived from the original on 5 December 2023. Retrieved 29 December 2023.

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Ursula von der Leyen

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