Von der Leyen officially launches her candidacy to continue presiding over the European Commission, emphasizing a feminist discourse on “gender equality”

On the occasion of International Women’s Day, Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the European Commission, highlighted the progress made by the European Union in the field of “gender equality” on Friday, acknowledging that “the journey is still long.”

“The path to full equality is still lengthy. It requires attention and commitment, every day, from each and every one of us,” stated the leader of the European executive in a declaration coinciding with March 8th.

Nevertheless, she emphasized the advancements in the increased representation of women in leadership positions, citing examples such as herself, the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, the European Central Bank President, Christine Lagarde, and the European Investment Bank President, Nadia Calviño. She asserted the Commission’s track record in equality matters, pointing to “unprecedented measures in support of women’s rights in Europe.”

This statement comes after she was officially elected as the candidate of the European People’s Party (EPP) to lead the European Commission again after the upcoming European elections in June. Specifically, 801 EPP delegates had the right to vote in the congress held this week in Bucharest, Romania. Out of the 499 votes cast, 10 were declared invalid. Of the 489 valid votes, 400 were in favor of Von der Leyen and 89 against. Around 300 delegates with voting rights in this congress either chose not to vote or did not travel to the Romanian capital.

Jorge Buxadé, the head of the VOX delegation in the European Parliament, criticized that in her speech, Von der Leyen did not mention agriculture, illegal immigration, Islamism, or wokeism, which he considered as the two enemies of democracies. He stated that true Europeans would stop them on June 10.

Additionally, VOX MEP Hermann Tertsch denounced on his social media that Von der Leyen expressed great joy that the entire People’s Party supports her unequivocally “to continue presiding over the European Commission to destroy European agriculture, liquidate livestock farming, impose socialist censorship of gender ideology, and impose social engineering with the Green Deal and Agenda 2030.” He predicted that the People’s Party and all the groups to its left in the European Parliament with whom it collaborates “will lose weight in the elections” and that those on the right will grow significantly, preventing her from returning as the head of the Commission.