![Ursula von der Leyen, who is a surprising choice to become the next head of the European Commission, is a strong supporter of closer European cooperation, which has been Germany's Defense Minister since 201[ads1]3. (AP Photo / Markus Schreiber, file) [19659002] Ursula von der Leyen, a surprising choice to be the next head of the European Commission, is a strong supporter of closer European cooperation, which has been Germany's Defense Minister since 2013. (AP Photo / Markus Schreiber, file)
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The German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen is in line with becoming the new President of the European Union Executive Commission – his first female leader, the BBC reported.
Von der Leyen was a surprise choice to lead the supreme leadership of the European Union, which promotes its general interest, and she is a strong supporter of closer European cooperation.
Her nomination follows days of difficult negotiations, the news reporting is reported, and it must be approved by the European Parliament.
ARIZONA GOV. DUCEY TO PULL NIKE PLANT INCENTIVES ABOUT REPORTED COLIN KAEPERNICK-BETSY ROSS FLAG FLAP Germany's Defense Minister since 2013, she has been a fixture in Chancellor Angela Merkel's cabinet of Merkel's nearly 14-year-old power.
Merkel said "For me, this is also a good sign that a woman wants this office for the first time." She noted that if approved, von der Leyen will also be the first German leader of the European executive for 52 years. [19659005] Merkel said on Tuesday that von der Leyen "enjoys great confidence" among European leaders and points to her involvement in a NATO force in the Aegean during the immigration flow, Germany's help in patrolling the Baltic States' airspace and her involvement in Europe. 19659005] She was long regarded as a potential successor to Merkel, but had a hard service at the forefront of the infamous difficult defense ministry and had long faded out of battle at the time Merkel pulled down last y ear as head of her center-right Christian Democratic Party.
Von der Leyen, 60, was born in Brussels and spent his early years in the Belgian capital. She speaks fluent English and French, has studied at the London School of Economics in the 1970s and lived in Stanford, California, from 1992 to 1996.
Von der Leyen – a doctor and a mother of seven – is the daughter of a former governor of her native Lower Saxony, Ernst Albrecht, who before that was a senior European official. She has been Vice President of Merkel's CDU since 2010.
Von der Leyen played an important role in the modernization of the image of her party in the Merkel years, over which it dominated the political midfield. As Minister of Families in Merkel's First Cabinet from 2005 to 2009, she introduced benefits that encouraged fathers to care for their young children.
Von der Leyen served as Minister of Labor until 2013, when she became Germany's first female defense minister. [19659005] CLICK HERE TO GET FOX NEWS APP
Associated Press has contributed to this report.
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