Ursula von der Leyen will announce her candidacy for a second term as President of the European Commission (EC). This will happen during a meeting of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in Berlin on February 19.
Von der Leyen, 65, has been careful not to share her intentions for the past year, deflecting all questions on the subject, the Guardian reported.
Announcing her candidacy for another five years would mark the first step in a four-month battle for the post that could involve wider circles, with some speculation that Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kalas could run in the summer.
Once elected by the CDU, von der Leyen must win the support of two other parties within the European People's Party (EPP), the center-right group in the EP that also includes the ruling parties in Greece, Ireland, Lithuania and Sweden.
She must then win the vote at March's EPP congress in Bucharest before facing a final hurdle in June when the real fight for top jobs begins in Brussels.
The election of the President of the EC is linked to the results of the EP elections, scheduled for June 6-9.
But what happens in June will depend on the percentage of votes the EPP gets after the election. In 2019, the EPP won a majority of seats and it was expected that its candidate Manfred Weber would be appointed head of the commission. But he failed to build cross-party support with the Socialists, who came second, fielding another candidate, Frans Timmermans.
The division created space for von der Leyen, who was a surprise candidate for the German government./BGNES
