Teresa Ribera will chair the College of EU Commissioners this Wednesday due to Von der Leyen’s illness

Chijioke Obinna

Teresa Ribera will chair the College of EU Commissioners this Wednesday due to Von der Leyen's illness

The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyencontinues at his home in Hanover the recovery of a severe pneumonia that forced his hospitalization for a week, but plans to resume her “external” commitments at the end of this week, said her spokesperson, who specified that she will be the vice president of Just Transition, the Spanish socialist Teresa Riberawho in the meantime will chair the meeting of the College of Commissioners this Wednesday.

Thus, Von der Leyen will reactivate the public agenda – which she canceled at the beginning of the month when she was diagnosed with “severe pneumonia” – and will travel next week to the Davos Forum (Switzerland) and days later to Strasbourg (France) to participate in the plenary session of the European Parliamentits chief spokesperson indicated in a press conference, Paula Pinho.

He has also rescheduled in his agenda the traditional trip to the country that holds the current presidency of the Council of the EU at the beginning of the rotation and which will take you to Poland from February 3 to 5, given that the severity of his pneumonia forced him to cancel all trips in the first weeks of the year, including this trip.

The update on the German conservative’s health status comes after days of criticism for the lack of transparency of the community Executive that he hid for a week that Von der Leyen was hospitalized; information that his cabinet only confirmed last Friday after it was revealed by the German news agency DPA and the president of the Commission had returned home.

Now, Pinho has indicated that Von der Leyen did not need assisted respiration during your admission nor was he in intensive carewhile stressing that the hospitalization did not prevent him from being “in regular contact” with his team and answer “important calls”, for example with the Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni.

In this way, Von der Leyen’s team justifies that the president of the Commission has not delegated to Ribera before despite her hospital admission because, they maintain from her cabinet, The medical recommendation was to cancel his “external agenda”and his condition has also allowed him to take care of his responsibilities at all times..

The spokesperson has also rejected the criticism received for the lack of information about the real situation of Von der Leyen, who was hospitalized for a week until last Friday, and has argued that At all times the Community Executive has reported “the level of severity” of the disease and that he had to cancel his public agenda while he recovered “in Hannover.”

“We have given all the important information about the president’s health status, indicating what illness she had and how serious it was, and we clarified that the president was in a position to continue working, in contact with her team and, if necessary, with the leaders. Therefore, her ability to act was never in doubt,” the spokesperson stressed, despite the fact that the previous week she responded that “there is no news” when asked directly at a press conference if Von der Leyen had been hospitalized. .

Chijioke Obinna

I've been passionate about storytelling and journalism since my early days growing up in Lagos. With a background in political science and years of experience in investigative reporting, I aim to bring nuanced perspectives to pressing global issues. Outside of writing, I enjoy exploring Nigeria’s vibrant cultural scene and mentoring young aspiring journalists.