Posted by 
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen appeared in public on Friday, having shaken off serious illness ― and promptly dived straight into national politics by backing Friedrich Merz to become Germany’s next chancellor.
Von der Leyen, who hails from the same center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) as Merz, joined a show of support during a Berlin gathering ostensibly focused on economics, security and migration.
Von der Leyen’s movements have been closely watched since the Commission announced that she was ill.
The Commission president was briefly hospitalized with a severe bout of pneumonia and has been working remotely from Hannover. She appeared on Friday at the CDU headquarters in Berlin along with nine heads of government and six opposition leaders from her center-right European People’s Party (EPP).
The Commission’s press service said that while recovering she was in “daily contact” with her teams in Brussels, but failed to disclose that she had been taken into hospital until after she returned home.
Von der Leyen is not expected to speak publicly at the two-day event. “It is not abnormal that the European Commission president is not participating” in the press conference, said an EPP official, granted anonymity to speak candidly.
She will, however, sign up to an EPP action plan with the other leaders geared at boosting Merz’s chances at the Feb. 23 election, in which he’s facing off against current center-left Chancellor Olaf Scholz, and far-right candidate Alice Weidel.
For Merz, head of the CDU, the event is a chance to show off his connection to the EU’s most powerful people. For Manfred Weber, chair of the EPP, who is hosting the event and belongs to the CDU’s Bavarian sister party, the CSU, it’s a chance to show Merz his ability to rally support.
In comments to Berlin Playbook, Weber promised a return to German dominance in Brussels under Merz.
A CDU/CSU-led federal government would “once again speak with one voice in Europe ― that is what Friedrich Merz stands for,” Weber said. “Contentious issues between government partners must be resolved in the coalition committee in Berlin and not on the open stage in Brussels.”
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, Weber’s predecessor as EPP president, is not in attendance as he is hosting U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer in Warsaw, where they’ll discuss a new U.K.-Poland defense pact.
One of the conclusion documents from the event focuses on how to slash EU “red tape” to bolster competitiveness, vowing that for every new “burdensome regulation,” two existing pieces of regulation will have to be abolished. In addition, guidelines on sustainability reporting requirements for companies and due diligence obligations for companies should be reined in, the draft states.
“We are committed to a substantial reduction in bureaucracy and regulation,” reads the document, which was seen by POLITICO.
