Role
The President is the head of the European Commission.
According to the treaties, the President decides on the organisation of the Commission and allocates portfolios to individual Commissioners. The President also sets the Commission's policy agenda.
The President represents the Commission in European Council meetings, G7 and G20 summits, summits with non-EU countries and major debates in the European Parliament and the Council.
President von der Leyen was appointed by national leaders and elected by the European Parliament after she presented her Political Guidelines.
These guidelines were inspired by her discussions with the parliament’s political groups, as well as by the European Council’s strategic agenda for 2019-2024. They set the work of the European institutions around six headline ambitions for Europe for this period:
- a European Green Deal
- a Europe fit for the digital age
- an economy that works for people
- a stronger Europe in the world
- promoting our European way of life
- a new push for European democracy
Calendar
- Brussels, Belgium
- Ursula von der Leyen
- Strasbourg, France
- Ursula von der Leyen
Transparency
Meetings
As part of the Commission’s commitment to transparency, Commissioners and their members of Cabinet publish information on meetings held with organisations or self-employed individuals.
- Meetings with President von der Leyen
- Meetings with the President’s Cabinet
- Missions of President von der Leyen
Public petitions
Responses to petitions, or a high number of identical correspondence to the President and other members of the College of Commissioners, are published here in the interest of transparency and coherence.
Declaration of Interests
In line with the Commission's Code of Conduct for Members of the Commission, each Commissioner publishes a Declaration of Interests.
The Declaration of Interests of the President is published at the bottom of this page.
A machine-readable version of all Declarations is also published. This is in line with the requirements of the Code of Conduct.
Biography
- 2019 - presentPresident of the European Commission
- 2013-2019Federal Minister of Defence, Germany
- 2009-2013Federal Minister of Labor and Social Affairs
- 2009-2019Member of the German Bundestag
- 2005-2009Federal Minister for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth, Germany
- 2003-2005Minister for Social Affairs, Women, Family Affairs and Health in Lower Saxony, Germany
- 2003-2005Member of the CDU in the State Assembly of Lower Saxony
- Since 1990Member of the CDU
- 1998-2002Member of the academic staff, Department of Epidemiology, Social Medicine and Health System Research, Hanover Medical School (Medizinische Hochschule)