Ursula von der Leyen made boosting the European Union’s defense capability a key focus of her bid for a second mandate to lead its executive arm, as the bloc struggles with challenges from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to the possible return of Donald Trump to the White House.
The head of the European Commission, 65, who won the unanimous endorsement of her center-right CDU party at a meeting in Berlin on Monday, outlined priorities including the defense sector and curbs on undocumented immigration into the EU.
"We need to put the migration pact into practice and strengthen Europe’s external borders together,” von der Leyen told her party. "And we must expand Europe’s defense capabilities. And here I am thinking above all of the industrial base.”