Ursula von der Leyen
- Ursula von der Leyen was appointed president of the European Commission, the executive branch of the European Union, in July 2019.
- She is the first woman to serve in the role, which is responsible for legislation affecting more than 700 million Europeans.
- From 2005 until 2019, von der Leyen served in Angela Merkel's cabinet--the longest tenure of any cabinet member.
- For the last six years of her time in the cabinet, she was Germany's defense minister.
- In September 2020, in her first state of the union speech as commissioner, she spoke out against anti-LGBTQ policies in Poland.
