タグ: Jean Claude Juncker

Person of Interest : Ursula von der Leyen, President-elect of the European Commission

Germany’s defense minister, Ursula von der Leyen has been narrowly elected to be the first female President of the European Commission. Von der Leyen will assume office 1 November 2019, one day after Britain’s promised departure from the EU.

Mrs. von der Leyen is a loyal ally of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and has held several important positions including the Ministry of Labor and the Ministry of Defense since 2013. As defense minister she performed oversight on military procurement and managed the withdrawal of German forces from Afghanistan.

Von der Leyen, 60 is the daughter of a career civil servant. She attended the London School of Economics and Hanover Medical School where she received her M.D. She is married to a fellow physician with whom they have 7 children. In addition to German, she speaks French and English.

As President of the European Commission, it is likely that she will continue to focus on women’s rights and environmental issues as well as strongly supporting European unity. Mrs. von der Leyen was though to be a strong candidate to replace Angela Merkel as German chancellor, but now it looks like her career will be capped with another and different challenge of equal, if not greater, importance.

Photo: Archive of the Sec. of Defense via flickr

EU’s Jean Claude Junker on Brexit

                   “The European Dream Still Exists”

On June 23 the British people voted in a referendum to leave the European Union. It was close: Leave 52%, Remain 48%.

The world has seen the result: financial turmoil and political uncertainty. It appears that the Leave group had no “Plan B” for their eventual win; in fact it appears that they did not even have a “plan A.”

Media attention has focused on financial turbulence and British domestic politics. But what about the Europeans, what do they think?

A good indication can be gathered from the speech of the President of the European Commission, Mr. Jean Claude Juncker, to the European Parliament on June 28th. President Juncker focused on these key points:

  • There will be not secret negotiations with the British
  • Britain has voted, and Britain must act on that vote
  • The EU will continue to move ahead despite its diminished status

Here is the full text of Mr. Juncker’s speech. It gives us a good indication about European intentions, and shows us how a statesman thinks as opposed to a mere politician.

Mr. Juncker’s speech in full (Reading Time: 7 minutes)

 

 

Photo: European Parliament via flickr