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MUNICH — The next European Commission should include a dedicated defense commissioner, Ursula von der Leyen said Saturday.
Speaking at the Munich Security Conference, the Commission president said it would be “reasonable” to create the post should she continue as head of the EU executive after this June’s EU election.
“If I would be the president of the next European Commission, I would have a commissioner for defense,” said von der Leyen, who was German defense minister before taking the Commission top job.
The center-right European People’s Party, with which von der Leyen is aligned, has come out in support of creating a defense post in the next Commission to steer work on ramping up the bloc’s industrial and defense capacity.
However, the scope of any such job is still unclear, and also if it would cover the bloc’s defense industry or also security operations and whether space would be included.
Von der Leyen said it was an “open” question on which nationality would get the post, but added that it’s “important” for a candidate from Central and Eastern Europe to receive a good portfolio.
“This is a good portfolio,” she said of the defense post.
The Commission opened a dedicated defense and space department — DG DEFIS — in 2019, and Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton has covered topics related to production of ammunition and aerospace.
Italy’s Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani gave the defense commissioner plan plan his backing. “We need to be real actors in foreign policy,” he said in Munich.
