Ursula von der Leyen

What it is

Ursula von der Leyen (born 8 October 1958, Brussels) is a German CDU politician and physician who has served as President of the European Commission since 1 December 2019, the first woman to hold the post. As Commission President, she sets the EU executive's political agenda, assigns portfolios to the 26 other commissioners, and represents the bloc at G7, G20, and major bilateral summits. The Commission holds the sole right of legislative initiative in the EU and enforces EU treaty law, making the presidency one of the most consequential executive roles in global governance.

History

Von der Leyen built her national career across three of Angela Merkel's German cabinets: minister for family affairs (2005-09), labour and social affairs (2009-13), and defence (2013-19), becoming the first woman to lead Germany's armed forces. She was a surprise choice for Commission President in July 2019, nominated by EU leaders after a fragmented European Parliament election and confirmed by Parliament by nine votes. Her first term was defined by the COVID-19 pandemic response, the EU's NextGenerationEU recovery package (EUR 750 billion), the European Green Deal, and coordinated sanctions on Russia following its February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. On 18 July 2024, the European Parliament re-elected her for a second five-year mandate by 401 votes from 720 MEPs, a stronger majority than her 2019 confirmation.

Current state

As of mid-2026, von der Leyen's second term is dominated by three overlapping agendas. On trade, the EU reached a broad tariff framework with the United States targeting a 15% rate, averting the 30% threatened by the Trump administration, while the EU-Mercosur free trade agreement was formally signed on 17 January 2026 in Asuncion after more than 25 years of negotiation. The EU-US tariff deal still requires European Parliament ratification. On China, the EU's annual trade deficit reached roughly EUR 360 billion; von der Leyen called it "unsustainable" at the June 2026 EU-China summit and announced a new country-agnostic "diversification instrument" to accelerate supply-chain de-risking. On Ukraine, the Commission backed the EUR 35 billion G7-backed support loan and sought parliamentary approval for the multi-year defence commitment package debated at the June 2026 European Council.

The Pfizergate transparency dispute continues to shadow her presidency. An EU court ruled in May 2025 that the Commission wrongly refused The New York Times access to texts von der Leyen exchanged with Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla during COVID-19 vaccine procurement; the Commission stated the messages had "disappeared." The 2026 advocate-general opinion set the stage for a final Court of Justice ruling with broader implications for institutional document retention.

Relationships

Von der Leyen's most consequential bilateral in 2026 is with French President Emmanuel Macron, whose G7 Evian diplomacy on Ukraine intersects with her own agenda on European strategic autonomy. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is structurally important as a co-partisan in the European People's Party bloc; his domestic fiscal moves, including Germany's EUR 500 billion infrastructure and defence spending reform, shape the resources member states can commit to EU-level programmes. Her authority over EU legislative proposals depends on sustaining a working majority across the EPP, Social Democrats, and Liberals in the European Parliament, a coalition that has narrowed on some votes in her second term.

What to watch

The Commission's proposed diversification instrument targeting Chinese overcapacity moves to legislative debate. The Pfizergate case may yield a final Court of Justice ruling that forces disclosure of additional Commission correspondence and sets a precedent for institutional transparency norms across EU bodies. The EU enlargement pipeline, covering Ukraine and Western Balkan candidates on a 2030 political horizon she has publicly endorsed, demands treaty-level decisions that require unanimous member-state consent. Her mandate runs through autumn 2029.