Ane Barcos
The European Commission’s Executive Vice-President for Clean, Fair and Competitive Transition, the Spanish Teresa Ribera, will chair this week’s meeting of the College of Commissioners instead of the president, Ursula von der Leyen, as confirmed on Monday by the institution’s chief spokesperson, Paula Pinho, during a press conference.
The European Commission had postponed the decision on who would chair the meeting of Von der Leyen’s team this week due to her health condition. However, it was clarified that if the President continued to be unable to attend due to the pneumonia that led her to cancel her agenda during the first half of January, Executive Vice-President Teresa Ribera would be the one to take on the task of chairing the meeting.
Pinho specified on Monday that the President is doing well in her recovery process and continues to rest at her home in Hanover. She confirmed that, due to this process, Von der Leyen will not chair the meeting of the College of Commissioners this week, and has asked Ribera to assume that responsibility.
However, the spokesperson indicated that the President hopes to resume her external commitments at the end of this week, specifically mentioning her participation in the World Economic Forum in Davos next week and her presence at the plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg.
Why did the Commission not report that Von der Leyen was hospitalized?
The question about von der Leyen’s hospitalisation quickly came up during the European Commission’s daily press conference, after the German news agency DPA reported on Friday that the president had been admitted to hospital due to the pneumonia she still suffers from.
“Let us clearly remember what we have said,” replied Paula Pinho, assuring that the community executive had provided “critical information” on the president’s state of health, specifying the illness she was suffering from and its severity.
In addition, she clarified that the president was in a position to continue planning the most priority matters, maintaining daily contact with her team and with the leaders when necessary. In this way, “her ability to act was never in doubt,” assured the spokesperson.
Pinho also pointed out that von der Leyen was never connected to a respirator or admitted to intensive care, insisting that, despite her illness, the president continued to work remotely.
She also explained that although Von der Leyen was hospitalised for about a week, she was discharged last Friday, continuing her active role in decision-making and communication with her team.
A journalist recalled the case of David Sassoli, whose full diagnosis was not fully detailed during his hospitalisation, and asked why Von der Leyen’s hospitalisation had not been previously reported. Paula Pinho replied that she could only refer to this particular case, reiterating that “we communicated the necessary critical elements about the state of health of our president”.
