Ursula von der Leyen seeking second term as head of EU's Commission

Germany's Ursula von der Leyen will seek a second term as head of the European Union's powerful Commission in a move that could make her the most significant politician representing the bloc's 450 million citizens in a over a generation.

Following five years of leading the 27-nation bloc through multiple crises, including the COVID-19 pandemic and the first two years of Russia's war in Ukraine, the 65-year-old was put forward by her German Christian Democratic Union party and will only need a further rubber stamp when the party's European umbrella group meets early next month in Bucharest.

The party's president, Friedrich Merz, said on Monday that his German party unanimously chose Ursula von der Leyen to be the candidate to stay in her post.