Ursula von der Leyen

Ursula von der Leyen
Born	Ursula Gertrud Albrecht 1958-10-08 Ixelles, Belgium
Nationality	German
Alma mater	University of Göttingen, University of Münster, London School of Economics, Hannover Medical School
Religion	Lutheranism
Parents	Ernst Albrecht
Children	7
Spouse	Heiko von der Leyen
Member of	Albrecht family, Atlantic Council/Distinguished Leadership Awards, BBC/100 Women/2022
Party	Christian Democratic Union
Bilderberger President of the European Commission promoting Vaccine passports  President of the European Commission  In office 1 December 2019 - Present Preceded by Jean-Claude Juncker  Germany/Minister of Defence In office 17 December 2013 - 17 July 2019 Preceded by Thomas de Maizière  Germany/Minister of Labour and Social Affairs In office 30 November 2009 - 17 December 2013  Germany/Minister of Family Affairs and Youth In office 22 November 2005 - 30 November 2009  Germany/Member of the Bundestag  In office 27 September 2009 - 31 July 2019

Ursula von der Leyen is the current President of the European Commission. She was Minister of Defence in the German Government from 2013 to 2019; where she was cited as running a department characterised by “nepotism” and “incompetence”, with large cushy contract to consultants from McKinsey.

Ursula von der Leyen has been noted as a strong advocate for the formation of an EU Army and advocates for a more aggressive foreign policy for the European Union. In 2021 she was promoting vaccine passports.

The upper class personified

Ursula von der Leyen grew up in an upper-class family, the daughter of the former Prime Minister of Lower Saxony, Ernst Albrecht, scion of an ancient noble family. He worked as one of the first European civil servants in the European Commission in 1958, first as chef de cabinet to the European commissioner for competition Hans von der Groeben in the Hallstein Commission, and then as director-general of the Directorate-General for Competition from 1967 to 1970.

In 1986, she married into the dynasty of the “silk barons” von der Leyen, who have been part of the German establishment since the 18th century. They live in the castle-like family estate in Burgdorf-Beinhorn.

Education and professional career

In 1977, she started studying economics at the University of Göttingen. At the height of the fear of communist terrorism in West Germany, she fled to London in 1978 after her family was told that the Red Army Faction (RAF) was planning to kidnap her due to her being the daughter of a prominent politician. She spent more than a year in hiding in London, where she lived with protection from Scotland Yard under the name Rose Ladson to avoid detection and enrolled at the London School of Economics.

In 1980, she switched to studying medicine and enrolled at the Hannover Medical School, where she graduated in 1987 and acquired her medical license.

From 1988 to 1992, she worked as an assistant physician at the Women's Clinic of the Hannover Medical School. Upon completing her doctoral studies, she graduated as a Doctor of Medicine in 1991. Following the birth of twins (she has seven children in all), she was a housewife in Stanford, California, from 1992 to 1996, while her husband was a faculty member of Stanford University.

From 1998 to 2002, she taught at the Department of Epidemiology, Social Medicine and Health System Research at the Hannover Medical School. In 2001 she earned a Master of Public Health degree at the institution.

Political Career

Her meteoric rise began in the early 2000s, when she was drawn into politics in father's footsteps. Thanks to his networks, despite her inexperience, she was not only able to secure a secure direct mandate for the Lower Saxony state parliament, but was also appointed Family Minister by family friend Christian Wulff - a clever PR coup, the blonde, preppy mother of seven with the chaste hairstyle was able to do be sold as a symbol of successful conservative ideals.

A year later the “power woman” was elected to the leadership of CDU and two years later she became Federal Family Minister in Angela Merkel's cabinet. There, she started a campaign to introduce Internet blocks, earning her the nickname "Zensursula".

In 2013, she was moved over to Federal Defense Ministry, which threatened to founder her career. Although the military budget became bigger, the equipment and logistics problems of the Bundeswehr also became more mismanaged. Instead of tackling the underlying problems politically, von der Leyen hired a whole army of advisors from well-known law firms and consulting firms for large sums, whose task was also and above all to conceal the failure of the minister and to sell her positively at the taxpayer's expense.

Her ideological orientation became more and more radical, as a foreign and security policy hawk who has fully integrated herself into the transatlantic NATO strategy, standing behind the model of militarization of the EU and the West with a “policy of strength” to continue a new Cold War with Russia.

She is an advocate of a "European Defence Union", with an army which can act independently of NATO and the United States.

Thank you Melinda & Bill for your leadership and dedication!

Thank you Melinda & Bill for your leadership and dedication! https://t.co/O9bZr1cE2r — Ursula von der Leyen #UnitedAgainstCoronavirus (@vonderleyen) May 5, 2020

On 2 July 2019, von der Leyen was proposed by the European Council as the candidate for President of the European Commission. She was then elected by the European Parliament on 16 July; and she took office on 1 December, becoming the first woman in such role.

Agent of Influence

“As Federal Defense Minister, Von der Leyen behaved as the US President wanted when he called for increase in military spending: higher military budgets, increased armaments instead of disarmament. And although this minister got into trouble because of her high spending on consulting firms and various personnel decisions and was anything but a role model, she became President of the EU Commission. That is a key function and it is important for the US.

The decision for von der Leyen happened quietly backstage. No sensible person can explain why she was given this important office. A partial explanation is that she had the support of important countries from Eastern Europe. The United States has a great influence on these states.

In the first major critical case, Von der Leyen immediately and unequivocally represented the US position, where she said Iran itself is to be blamed for the confrontation in the Middle East and for the execution of the Iranian general. With her, the United States can probably also stake a claim on other occasions and play a key role in shaping the internal structure of the European Union. Ursula von der Leyen is the perfect example of an "agent of influence".”
Albrecht Müller (January 2, 2021) 

Brexit

Ursula von der Leyen and the three suits: first too small, second too big and third just right

"The Brexit agreement was written in English so they could understand it!"

On Sunday 13 December 2020, Ursula von der Leyen said the EU’s relations with the UK are going to be “about new beginnings with old friends”.

She was asked if the two sides could reach a deal with three weeks left before the transition period ends, and future trading would be under World Trade Organization rules.

The President of the European Commission said "there is movement" in the Brexit talks but the UK had the choice to “play by our rules” if it wants "seamless access" to the EU single market, or see “border and tariffs”.

 

Quotes by Ursula von der Leyen

Page	Quote	Date	Source
"Vaccine passport"	“all EU citizens have a fundamental right to free movement in the EU. The EU Digital Covid Certificate, available in paper or digital format, will make it easier for Europeans to travel...”	May 2021	Forbes
Climate change/Preparation	“[...] and let me give you two examples for what could be driving our new global agenda. The first example is climate change. Climate change is the looming crisis behind Covid; and the loss of biodiversity is a main driver of today's and potentially future pandemics.”	19 February 2021	— MSC Special Edition 2021

 

An appointment by Ursula von der Leyen

Appointee	Job	Appointed
Elisa Ferreira	EU/Commissioner for Cohesion and Reforms	1 December 2019

 

Events Participated in

Event	Start	End	Location(s)	Description
Bilderberg/2015	11 June 2015	14 June 2015	Austria Telfs-Buchen	The 63rd meeting, 128 Bilderbergers met in Austria
Bilderberg/2016	9 June 2016	12 June 2016	Germany Dresden	The 2016 Bilderberg meeting took place in Dresden, Germany.
Bilderberg/2018	7 June 2018	10 June 2018	Italy Turin Hotel Torino Lingotto Congress	The 66th Bilderberg Meeting, in Turin, Italy, known for months in advance after an unprecedented leak by the Serbian government.
Bilderberg/2019	30 May 2019	2 June 2019	Switzerland Montreux	The 67th Bilderberg Meeting
Brussels Forum/2015	20 March 2015	22 March 2015	Germany North Rhine-Westphalia Cleve	Yearly discreet get-together of huge amount of transatlantic politicians, media and military and corporations, under the auspices of the CIA-close German Marshall Fund. The 2015 main theme was (R)evolution.
WEF/Annual Meeting/2013	23 January 2013	27 January 2013	World Economic Forum Switzerland	2500 mostly unelected leaders met to discuss "leading through adversity"
WEF/Annual Meeting/2015	21 January 2015	24 January 2015	World Economic Forum Switzerland	Attended by a lot of people. This page lists only the 261 "Public Figures".
WEF/Annual Meeting/2017	17 January 2017	20 January 2017	World Economic Forum Switzerland	2950 known participants
WEF/Annual Meeting/2019	22 January 2019	25 January 2019	World Economic Forum Switzerland
WEF/Annual Meeting/2020	21 January 2020	24 January 2020	World Economic Forum Switzerland	This mega-summit of the world's ruling class and their political and media appendages happens every year, but 2020 was special, as the continuous corporate media coverage of COVID-19 started more or less from one day to the next on 20/21 January 2020, coinciding with the start of the meeting.
WEF/Annual Meeting/2023	16 January 2023	20 January 2023	World Economic Forum Switzerland	The theme of the meeting is "Cooperation in a Fragmented World"