European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is one of Europe’s most powerful political figures
A meteoric rise despite starting late In addition to being a qualified doctor, Ursula von der Leyen is now considered the most powerful woman in Europe.
Since becoming President of the European Union in 2019, Ursula von der Leyen has shaped the politics and policies of the European Union. In July 2024 she was re-elected for a further five years. Before moving to Brussels, von der Leyen had held posts such as Germany’s Federal Defence Minister.
From the surgery to the corridors of power
Born in 1958, daughter of a former Premier of Lower Saxony, Ernst Albrecht, Ursula grew up effectively surrounded by politics. But at first she did not try to carve out her own career in politics. She studied economics in London before completing a medical degree. While at university she met her future husband Heiko von der Leyen. After qualifying as a doctor she spent some time in California where her husband had a job at Stanford University. She then returned to Hanover and spent five years there working as a doctor.
Von der Leyen is mother to seven children, but while she has been a member of the CDU party since 1990, her career in politics did not begin until 2003. At that time she became Lower Saxony’s Minister for Social Affairs, Women, Families and Health. Only two years later, she became Minister for Families in the German government under Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel. After four years in that office, she became Minister for Labour and Social Affairs in 2009, ultimately moving to the Ministry of Defence in 2013. She moved to Brussels in 2019.
From Berlin to Brussels: Ursula von der Leyen becomes President of EU Commission in 2019
When the top job at the European Commission became vacant following the 2019 European elections, the election of von der Leyen surprised many. Since then she has set the political agenda for the Commission, a role of such political importance that the US Forbes Magazine has twice named her “most powerful woman in the world”. Her first period in office was marked by geopolitical challenges such as the pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Her other priorities include the EU Green Deal, which aims to make Europe the first climate-neutral continent by 2050. Speaking after her re-election by the European Parliament, von der Leyen described her first period in office as, “We have sailed through the most troubled waters our Union has ever faced, yet we have remained on course towards our long-term European goals.”But as an experienced politician, von der Leyen well knows that the challenges of her second term in office will likely be no less serious.
