Ursula von der Leyen pictured in 2005 with her husband Heiko and their seven children. From left to right: Donata, Egmont, David, Victoria, Sophie, Joanna and Gracia on their pony Ranier. Photo: JOCHEN LÜBCKE/DDP/AFP/GETTY
Almost three years ago, Ursula von der Leyen posed for a photograph of her crush. first-born grandson.
The caption “#ProudGrandma” provides a rare glimpse into the personal life of the most powerful woman in Europe, who has seven children.
At that time, the German politician was just president of the European Commission in less than 18 months, earning a reputation as a pandemic-forged crisis manager.
Ms von der Leyen's election campaign is «personal» in nature; this time Photo: FREDERIC FLORIN/AFP
In previous years, Ms von der Leyen's Instagram feed was filled with photos that looked more like professional politicians: posing with colleagues at international events, gazing at the next groundbreaking breakthrough or making selfie with other people's children.
Gone is that fun side when Hugh Jackman pulled her out of the trash can on a TV show in 2008, when she was Germany's minister of family affairs.
Her public image was carefully crafted as a competent and diligent head of the Commission — so much so that she decided to redesign her office at Berlaymont headquarters to include a purpose-built apartment.
But now everything has changed, and # proudgrandma is back.
With a recent poll from the Berlin-based European Council on Foreign Relations showing that anti-European populists will dominate 18 of the 27 EU member states in continent-wide elections in June, the team standing behind Ms von der Leyen, tried to rebrand her. .
Get ready to see the funny side of the President of the European Commission again. Photo: CTK/Alamy Live News/https://www.alamy.com
They are trying to turn her into a politician with traditional, conservative family values - an area that anti-Brussels nationalists have used to criticize the bloc for years.
“As a mother of seven, I want my children's children to grow up in a safe and prosperous Europe,” declares her brilliant campaign website.
The same one the phrase was used in many speeches and was repeated at the Maastricht debate, which is the first competition between her competitors for the presidency of the Commission.
Alexandre Winterstein, a spokeswoman for Ms von der Leyen's campaign, told reporters there was indeed a «personal» element to the reappointment bid.
«People know her as the president of the Commission,» he said. “What people may know less about is who she really is as a person. Who is Ursula von der Leyen?
Ms von der Leyen remains the favorite to be chosen by EU leaders for a second five-year term at the helm of the bloc's executive in Brussels. But to do so, she will need the approval of a majority of members of the European Parliament, which is expected to shift to the right.
Ms von von has undergone slight changes in the past few months. Der Leyen's politics. The EU's commitment to being carbon neutral by 2050 was recently relaxed to be kinder to angry farmers, whose interests have long been championed by Eurosceptics and nationalist parties.
In addition, there is now a much tougher stance on migration, which has led to the introduction of rules allowing detention at EU borders.
The President of the European Commission hopes for a “secure and prosperous Europe”; as part of her election campaign
Earlier this year, the European Commission president suggested she would be happy to work with the right-wing ECR group, which includes Brussels-critical nationalist politicians from Poland, Spain and Italy.
Her own center-right EPP, which has gradually shifted to the right, may even need ECR support to form a conservative bloc in the European Parliament.
Austrian MEP Thomas Weitz, a Green MEP who backed Ms von der Leyen in 2019 now has doubts about his direction. He told The Telegraph: “This is clearly a reaction to the relative strength of far-right movements and populism.”
“I began this mandate in the European Parliament with some respect for her, recognizing that this large majority of the European population has finally demanded ambitious climate policy. She read the signs correctly… What really disappoints me is how much she has turned away from her own heritage. The fact that under the Green Deal she has gone from being a birther to a gravedigger is very disappointing.”
“I'm really asking myself if I can trust her again,” Mr Weitz. added because he questioned whether he would support her candidacy again.
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