Georgia congratulates Ursula von der Leyen on becoming European Commission President
By Tea Mariamidze
Thursday, July 18
Official Tbilisi congratulates German Minister, Ursula von der Leyen on becoming the first female President of the European Commission.
German defense minister will replace Jean-Claude Juncker, former President of the European Commission as he stepped down on October 31.
In a secret ballot on July 16, Ursula von der Leyen was supported by 383 MEPs, nine votes more than required to secure an absolute majority but below the 400 threshold that would have given her a stable majority to get her policies through parliament over the next five years.
Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili took to Twitter to congratulate new President of the European Commission on the election.
Zurabishvili wrote that she is looking forward to work with Leyen in the future.
“A sincere and warm congratulations to @vonderleyen, the President-elect of the @EU_Commission. Georgia sees in you the Europe we all need. I look forward to our working relationship in the near future,” the tweet reads.
Georgian President also shared her photo from Lennart Meri Conference held in Tallinn, Estonia in May this year, where she is taking part in the discussions with Ursula von der Leyen.
“Proud to have shared the floor at #Lennartmericonference with #URSULA_VON_DER_LEYEN the new #PresidentoftheEUCommission,” Zurabishvili wrote.
Georgian Prime Minister, Mamuka Bakhtadze also congratulated the German Minister on her success.
“My most sincere congratulations to @vonderleyen on her election as the first female President of the European Commission! Look forward to working closely together to advance further & strengthen #Georgia-#EU ties and achieve greater goals in our relations!” Bakhtadze’s tweet reads.
Von der Leyen got into politics at the age of 43 and has been a member of Angela Merkel's conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) party since.
Between 2001 and 2004, she held various local political positions within the Hanover region, then elected to Lower Saxony’s state parliament in 2003, before becoming the minister for social affairs, women, family affairs and health in 2005.
Four years later, she was elected to the Bundestag or German federal parliament. She was the federal minister of labor and social affairs until 2013.
From 2013 to July 17, 2019, she served as the Defense Minister. Von der Leyen will assume the office of the European Commission in November 2019.
