European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is preparing to announce her desire to run for a second term, the leader of her German conservative party said on Tuesday, AFP reported.

Daniel Kaspari, head of the CDU/CSU delegation in the European Parliament, said he expected Ms von der Leyen to “announce on Monday her desire to be re-elected as Commission president” after the June elections.

Her decision was to be announced during a planned visit to Berlin, where she was invited to a meeting of her party.

“It would be a good sign for Europe. It goes without saying that the CDU wholeheartedly supports this,” Kaspari insisted.

The European People’s Party (EPP), the largest political force in the European Parliament, could nominate her as its candidate at the European level to lead the Commission again during its congress on March 6 and 7 in Bucharest.

For Daniel Caspari, 65-year-old Ursula von der Leyen would give a different direction to a possible second term.

After the first legislative assembly, which was “heavily affected by the pandemic and the war in Ukraine”, “the emphasis will be on competitiveness, as well as on internal and external security”, he believes.

“Only if Europe remains an economically efficient continent will we be able to maintain our prosperity and allow ourselves to make an ecological transition,” insisted the MEP.

Conservative MEPs in the EPP have been fighting for a year against major Green Deal legislative projects, including a text on restoring nature, which they largely watered down, and a law to reduce pesticide use that was crucial in its rejection.

Aware of the growing reluctance to comply with environmental regulations, von der Leyen announced in the fall a “new phase” of the Green Deal, focused on business competitiveness.

“The implementation of the Green Deal will continue to play an important role,” Caspari says, but the “strategic dialogue” launched by Brussels with the agricultural sector and the withdrawal of the pesticide text “is an important signal sent by Ursula von der Leyen.” “engage all social groups on the path to carbon neutrality.”

At the beginning of February, the Greens appointed their two leaders of the EU-level list for the European elections – German Terry Reintke and Dutch Bas Eickhout.

The Social Democrats should nominate their candidate for the position of the head of the Commission at the beginning of March.