Von der Leyen to Announce Bid for Second Term

Welcome to the Brussels Edition, Bloomberg’s daily briefing on what matters most in the heart of the European Union.

The eyes of EU watchers are on Berlin today, where Ursula von der Leyen is expected to announce her bid a second five-year term as European Commission president. Quiet on the matter until now, the 65-year-old German conservative dropped a hint during a panel discussion at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday. If she remained president of the EU’s executive arm, she would install a commissioner for defense, von der Leyen told delegates, drawing a round of applause. In Berlin, she’ll attend a meeting of the leadership of her Christian Democratic Union party, which would need to propose her as a lead candidate for the European Parliament elections in June. Whether she has the broader political support required to secure another term remains to be seen.