European Commission spokeswoman Paula Pinho stated that the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, works remotely despite pneumonia and there is no need to appoint her deputy. Von der Leyen canceled her trip to Poland for the EC meeting due to illness. The President of the Commission had a telephone conversation with Giorgia Meloni before the meeting between the Italian Prime Minister and Donald Trump.
Ursula von der Leyen was to take part in an away meeting on January 9 and 10 European Commission in Gdańsk. This meeting was to honor the beginning of the Polish presidency of the Council of the European Union. Due to the serious pneumonia of the head of the Commission, the arrival of the entire EC team to Gdańsk was canceled.
The illness raised questions about whether the management of the Commission should not have been taken over by another person, in accordance with the regulations – Spanish Teresa Ribera, responsible for, among others, for competitiveness and clean transformation, which has the highest rank among the six deputies von der Leyen.
When asked about such an eventuality, Pinho replied that there was no need to look for von der Leyen's replacement because she was able to perform her duties remotely.
As the spokeswoman emphasized, in the first two weeks of January, the head of the European Commission canceled only “external commitments” such as her visit to Gdańsk, while she performs the remaining duties remotely. She added that von der Leyen is expected to return to work in mid-January. However, it is not known yet whether an external EC meeting in Gdańsk will be organized in the first month of the year.
Ursula von der LeyenRONALD WITTEK/EPA/PAP
Ursula von der Leyen's conversation with the Prime Minister of Italy
The EC spokeswoman announced that as part of her remote work, von der Leyen had a telephone conversation with the Prime Minister Italian Giorgia Meloni before the Italian woman's visit to USAwhere she met with the president-elect on Saturday at the Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida Donald Trump.
Ursula vond der Leyen and Giorgia Meloni in a photo from October 16, 2024PAP/EPA/OLIVIER HOSLET
Meloni is one of the first leaders Trump received in Florida after the US presidential election. Previously, in similar circumstances, he met, among others, with the Prime Minister Canada Justin TrudeauPrime Minister Hungarian Viktor Orban and the president Argentina Javier Milei.
Donald Trump and Giorgia MeloniReuters
The meeting between the Italian prime minister and the president-elect took place just before the visit of the soon-to-resign president Joe Biden in Rome.
Main photo source: RONALD WITTEK/EPA/PAP