[10] In 1980 he ran for the CDU nomination for the German chancellorship, backed by CDU chairman Helmut Kohl, but narrowly missed the candidacy to fellow conservative Franz Josef Strauß (who then lost the general election to the sitting chancellor Helmut Schmidt); in the 1990 state elections Ernst Albrecht lost his office to Gerhard Schröder, who later became German chancellor. Meanwhile, Bavarian colleagues from von der Leyen's sister party, the CSU, complained that men did not need a "diaper-changing internship". This part of the law, in particular, attracted protest from some German conservatives. [133] She is, or has been, also a member of several boards of trustees: Ursula von der Leyen assumed her office as Federal Minister for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth in 2005. [20] She lives with her family on a farm near Hanover where they keep horses. [177], In 2019 and again in 2020, Forbes listed her as the fourth most powerful woman in the world. The Albrecht family was among the hübsche ("courtly" or "genteel") families of the Electorate and Kingdom of Hanover—a state that was in a personal union with the United Kingdom—and her ancestors had been doctors, jurists and civil servants since the 17th century. The house von der Leyen is an ancient German noble family of princely and historically sovereign rank. "[107], On 2 July 2019, von der Leyen was proposed by the European Council as their candidate for the office of President of the European Commission. Von der Leyen is a member of the German branch of the European Movement. [161] The Polish Foreign Minister made sarcastic comments about "Prussian tone of the Ode to Joy". BRUSSELS, BELGIUM - JANUARY 21: President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen is talking to media at the end of a video conference meeting of the members of the European Council focused on the Covid-19 pandemic in the Justus Lipsius building, the EU Council headquarter, on January 21, 2021, in Brussels, Belgium. they claimed that German foreign policy was not forged on TV-shows, that von der Leyen's words were taken out of context and that the general tone of her statement was highly sympathetic towards Poland. In December 2019, Ursula von der Leyen replaced Jean-Claude Juncker as the president of the European Commission, becoming the first woman to serve in the important role. [87], In 2015, von der Leyen publicly criticized Airbus over delays in the delivery of A400M military transport planes, complaining that the company had a serious problem with product quality. With most of the count's territories lost to Napoleon France, Reichsgraf Philipp Franz still retained the county Geroldseck. Ursula von der Leyen was sitting in her converted flat next to her office in the EU's palatial HQ in Berlaymont when the phone started ringing. [114] The fear is that the deal could lead to more deforestation of the Amazon rainforest as it expands market access to Brazilian beef. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen addressed the European Parliament yesterday, where she offered her first public explanations of … Ursula von der Leyen European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen has said she "deeply regrets" that mistakes were made during the decision to trigger Article 16 of the EU Withdrawal Agreement in a dispute over vaccines. She met him at a university choir in Göttingen. "[72], After Hungary used a water cannon and tear gas to drive asylum seekers back from the Hungarian-Serbian border on September 2015, during the European migrant crisis, von der Leyen publicly criticized the government of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and called the measures "not acceptable and [...] against the European rules that we have. [51], Von der Leyen also lobbied for lowering the barriers to immigration for some foreign workers, in order to fight shortages of skilled workers in Germany. As Germany's defense minister from 2013 to 2019, von der Leyen left chaos in … The European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, has said the EU, after four years, has a ‘friend in the White House’ ahead of Joe Biden’s inauguration on Wednesday. The news media later reported that Wulff's nomination came as a blow to Merkel, whose choice of Leyen had been blocked by the two parties' more conservative state premiers. After graduating as a physician from the Hannover Medical School in 1987, she specialized in women's health. [52] In 2013, she concluded an agreement with the Government of the Philippines that was aimed at helping Filipino health care professionals to gain employment in Germany. He will be succeeded by Wolfram, Hereditary Prince of Leyen and zu Hohengeroldseck (b.1990). "[73], Under von der Leyen's leadership, the German parliament approved government plans in early 2016 to send up to 650 soldiers to Mali, boosting its presence in the U.N. peacekeeping mission MINUSMA in the West African country. [68][69][70], At the Munich Security Conference in 2015, von der Leyen publicly defended the German refusal to supply Ukraine with weapons. [36][37], The university decided not to revoke von der Leyen's medical degree. [6], Von der Leyen was born in 1958 in Ixelles, Brussels, Belgium, where she lived until she was 13 years old. [116], In March 2020 von der Leyen's Commission turned down the idea of suspending the Schengen free travel zone in order to introduce border controls around Italy, at that time the European centre of the coronavirus pandemic,[123][124][125] The decision drew criticism from some European politicians. [155], Von der Leyen has supported close security cooperation with Saudi Arabia. [150], In 2013, von der Leyen unsuccessfully campaigned for a statutory quota for female participation in the supervisory boards of companies in Germany, requiring company boards to be at least 20% female by 2018, rising to 40% by 2023. [89] Also in 2015, von der Leyen chose MBDA, jointly owned by Airbus, Britain's BAE Systems, and Italy's Leonardo S.p.A., to build the Medium Extended Air Defense System, but set strict milestones for it to retain the contract. In 1697 Freiherr Karl Caspar received the county of Hohengeroldseck as a fiefdom from Austria. "[176] In June 2017, Von der Leyen voted against her parliamentary group’s majority and in favour of Germany's introduction of same-sex marriage. As an economics student at the London School of Economics in the late 1970s, she lived under the name Rose Ladson, the family name of her American great-grandmother from Charleston, South Carolina. "[167], In a 2011 interview with Der Spiegel, von der Leyen expressed her preference for "a united states of Europe – run along the lines of the federal states of Switzerland, Germany or the USA" which would capitalize on Europe's size by agreeing on core issues relating to finance, tax and economic politics. [41], In 2003, von der Leyen was part of a group assigned by then-opposition leader and CDU chairwoman Angela Merkel to draft alternative proposals for social welfare reform in response to Chancellor Gerhard Schröder's "Agenda 2010". [31], From 1998 to 2002, she taught at the Department of Epidemiology, Social Medicine and Health System Research at the Hannover Medical School. [30] From 1988 to 1992, she worked as an assistant physician at the Women's Clinic of the Hannover Medical School. [86], Early in her tenure, von der Leyen pledged to get a grip on Germany's military equipment budget after publishing a KPMG report on repeated failures in controlling suppliers, costs and delivery deadlines, e.g., with the Airbus A400M Atlas transport plane, Eurofighter Typhoon jet and the Boxer armoured fighting vehicle. Von der Leyen is a member of the centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its EU counterpart, the European People's Party (EPP). [104][105][106] Die Welt reported that von der Leyen "is highly respected in the alliance" and that "all the [NATO] defence ministers listen when she speaks. A series of catastrophic misjudgements, and a failure to deliver. [95][96][97][98], As a cabinet member, von der Leyen was, for several years, regarded as one of the leading contenders to succeed Angela Merkel as Chancellor. She questioned whether any effort by the West could match that or, more importantly, achieve the outcome sought by Ukraine and its supporters. The house von der Leyen is an ancient German noble family of princely and historically sovereign rank. Ursula von der Leyen faced calls to immediately resign this week as MEPs turned on Brussels’ chaotic leadership. Dozens of MEPs also called on Josep Borrell, the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs, to resign after being “humiliated” during a diplomatic trip to Moscow. [162] The Polish Minister of Defence summoned the Germany military attache and demanded explanations. [148] However, child pornography is, in fact, illegal in India, which has much stricter rules about erotic media than Germany. On the 60th anniversary of the founding of Israel, von der Leyen participated in the first joint cabinet meeting of the governments of Germany and Israel in Jerusalem in March 2008. Timmermans has previously been one of the "lead candidates" (German: Spitzenkandidat) for the Commission's presidency. [22], In 1977, she started studying economics at the University of Göttingen. Antoni Macierewicz domaga się "złożenia wyjaśnień”, Skandaliczna wypowiedź niemieckiej minister obrony. [109], When she lived in Brussels, her little sister Benita-Eva died of cancer at the age of eleven and she remembered "the enormous helplessness of my parents" in view of the cancer, which she cited as one of her reasons in 2019 that her EU Commission "to take the lead in the fight against cancer".[110]. Germany lobbies India to buy Eurofighters, submarines, "Surge in German arms sales to Saudi Arabia and Turkey", "Germany's Angela Merkel makes arms export pact with France", "Merkel eyes relief for German taxpayers", "Merkel's Surprise: A Woman in Charge of Defense", "Merkel takes oath of office, begins third term", "Seeking Global Role, German Military Stumbles", "German defence ministry and arms industry come under fire", An interview with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg.