Five more years: EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen (65) is aiming for a second term in office – just like Portugal's Jose Manuel Barroso or France's Jacques Delors before her. The politician, who was born in Brussels and grew up in Lower Saxony, has taken a decisive step towards this goal. The executive committee of the CDU unanimously nominated her as its top candidate. At the same time, the sister party CSU signalled its support.

The prospects of the former Federal Minister for Family Affairs, then for Labour and finally for Defence are good that the conservative party family, the European People's Party (EPP), will confirm the nomination in Bucharest at the beginning of March. "We are aiming for a unanimous vote in Bucharest," says CDU party leader Friedrich Merz.

According to current forecasts, the Christian conservative parties have a realistic chance of becoming the strongest group in the European Parliament again in the European elections from 6 to 9 June. According to the polls, they can expect 160 to 180 seats. In the current EU Parliament, they have 178 seats, while the second-largest group, the social democratic parties, are currently polling at 140 seats. This corresponds almost exactly to the number of MEPs currently sitting in Parliament for the party family. As the lead candidate of the largest group, von der Leyen would have a good chance of being re-elected by the EU Parliament as President of the European Commission – even if it is impossible to predict how the far-right parties will behave, which are likely to gain momentum in the European elections and could overtake the Greens and possibly also the Liberals in terms of the number of seats.

The Christian Democrat placed two topics at the centre of her nomination in Berlin. Firstly, she called for an expansion of Germany's defence capabilities and reiterated her proposal to create the post of EU Commissioner for Defence. This new head of department should ensure that more is invested in the defence industry. At the same time, she made it clear that the organisation of the armed forces would remain the responsibility of the national member states. Von der Leyen named the strengthening of the competitiveness of European companies as a second core topic – for example, by reducing bureaucracy and reporting obligations or by consolidating the internal market with standardised rules.

When asked about the Green Deal, she explained that following the agreement on the climate targets, it was now a matter of creating reliability for investors and defining how the targets could be achieved sector by sector. At the same time, she formulated her overarching goal – in times of geopolitical tensions and increasing anti-European forces in the EU countries: "We must continue to defend Europe's success against the dividers from within and without, we must make our centre strong."