Ursula von der Leyen: a woman who dared to break the rules

We suggest taking a closer look at a woman who dares to raise gender equality and other important issues. She resisted the pressure and did not hesitate to break the rules. He changed the face of the world and showed that he could resist. Without a doubt, women like U. von der Leyen will go down in history and their work will become examples to learn from, writes britannica.com.

Early years and education

Ursula’s father is Ernst Albrecht, a German politician who has served as chairman of the cabinet of the Commission of the European Economic Community. From 1977 to 1980, Ursula studied economics at the Universities of Göttingen and Munster. He also studied at the London School of Economics, but did not graduate. However, he later turned to medicine and in 1987 graduated from the German Medical School in Hannover (MHH). From 1988 to 1992, the woman worked as a medical assistant at the MHH gynecology clinic, and in 1991 she obtained a doctorate in medical science. From 1992 to 1996, Ursula lived in the United States and her husband, Heiko von der Leyen, taught at Stanford University. After returning to Germany, Ursula worked at the MHH Faculty of Epidemiology, Social Medicine and Health Systems Research from 1998 to 2002. In 2001, she earned a master’s degree in public health sciences.

In 1990, von der Leyen joined the German Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and in 1996 he became involved in the political affairs of Lower Saxony, a federal state ruled by his father from 1976 to 1990. Until 2004, when he was elected to the committee of the CDU, U. von der Leyen held various positions of local and national importance. In 2005, when the CDU won the federal elections, she was entrusted with the position of Minister for Family, Women, Social Affairs and Youth Affairs in the first office of German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Regarding the measures taken by Mr von der Leyen to deal with the low birth rate in Germany, mention should be made of the introduction of paid parental leave and the massive expansion of the network of childcare services. In 2009, the politician was elected to the Bundestag (Lower House of the German Parliament) and became Minister of Labor and Social Affairs. In this capacity, Mr. von der Leyen was forced to cut welfare spending as a result of the financial crisis. At the end of 2010, Ms Von der Leyen was entrusted with the position of Vice President of the CDU.

The mandate of the Minister of Defense

In December 2013, U. von der Leyen, considered the successor of some observers to A. Merkel, was appointed the country’s defense minister. She became the first woman in this publication. In this capacity, Mr. von der Leyen sought to initiate the reform of the Bundeswehr (German Armed Forces) and took on a number of challenges.

Mr. von der Leyen publicly called on his country to take more responsibility in the European defense sector and later helped secure funding for military equipment. In 2015, another crisis began with the influx of refugees to Europe, most of whom sought asylum in Germany. In the current situation, the available options had to be reconsidered, leading to ideas to combat immigration. Ms Von der Leyen called for more restraint: she argued that refugees could not be equated with terrorists. Following the terrorist attacks in Paris and Brussels in 2015 and 2016, his position was increasingly criticized.

An inspection of German military equipment in February 2018 revealed that only a small proportion of the basic weapon systems were ready for combat. Less than a third of the combat aircraft, less than half of the tanks, and only three military transport aircraft were operational. Mr von der Leyen, in response to such a review, pointed out that it would take a long time to make up decades of funding shortfalls, and that the Merkel government had committed to a significantly larger defense budget. However, by 2024, 1.5 percent is projected. The country’s defense spending was still below the 2% of GDP agreed by NATO leaders in 2014, and the Bundeswehr was struggling to meet its human resource targets. Von der Leyen suggested recruiting citizens from other European Union (EU) countries who had lived in Germany long enough, but EU leaders began to express fears about how this practice would affect the military readiness of each member state.

Path to the position of President of the European Commission

In October 2018, after the CDU’s poor performance in regional elections, Merkel said she would not run for another term as party leader. As Ms Von der Leyen refused to apply for the position, she eventually fell under the patronage of Ms Merkel, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer. The fact that von der Leyen, who was otherwise seen as Merkel’s obvious successor, did not even run as a candidate, was seen by some as clear proof that the Defense Minister’s portfolio was not the intended target. As the political career within the country seemed to stall and signs of nepotism began to emerge in the defense department, U. von der Leyen’s escape route must be seen as unexpected.

The term of the then President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, was scheduled to end in November 2019. Who will replace him depends on the European Council. The final decision belonged to the European Parliament. Unfortunately, the process was complicated by the results of the May 2019 elections, which revealed that the centrist ruling coalition had lost its majority. With the start of the behind-the-scenes talks in June 2019, EU leaders could not find an acceptable candidate for both the center-right and center-left blocs, with the support of the Greens, Liberals and Eurosceptics.

2019 July 16 U. von der Leyen was approved by 383 votes out of 747. The following day, she resigned as German Defense Minister. This position was held by Ms. Kramp-Karrenbauer. Mr. von der Leyen was supposed to replace Mr. Juncker on November 1, but due to disagreements over cabinet formation, the inauguration process lasted a month. So only in 2019. December 1 Ms Von der Leyen became President of the European Commission, the first woman to hold this position.