Von der Leyen picks campaign team for run at second term as EU Commission chief

BRUSSELS — European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced that her head of Cabinet will run her campaign for a second five-year term in the job.

Björn Seibert will take two months of unpaid leave from his position as von der Leyen’s right hand at the Commission in the lead-up to the European election on June 6-9.

According to EU guidelines for members of the Commission — such as von der Leyen — participating in the EU election, they must not use any human resources of the European Commission for their campaigns.

Von der Leyen’s campaign spokesperson will be Alexander Winterstein, currently a senior civil servant in the Commission’s communications directorate-general — a sharp transition into party politics that could raise some eyebrows.

Winterstein was promoted to his present role in the EU executive from an earlier position at the directorate-general for competition policy when the center-right European People’s Party gathered in Bucharest to endorse von der Leyen for a second term. The timing of that move provoked questions by journalists at a Commission press conference on Friday.

Commission spokesperson Eric Mamer said that the internal procedure under which Winterstein was promoted was “totally normal.” He added that — “hand on heart” — Winterstein has not yet done any work on the EPP’s campaign to get von der Leyen another five-year term.

“I’m obviously working at the Commission at this moment so I cannot say anything because Commission officials don’t speak to journalists. I can only refer you to what Eric said,” Winterstein said.

Seibert and Winterstein will take unpaid leave from their positions at the Commission and return to those jobs after the election on June 10.

However, as von der Leyen is not running for a seat in the European Parliament, and the maneuvering for the Commission top seat can take some more time, her real campaign to continue in her role will still de facto be running then, possibly for several months. This means that the pair’s self-extrication from the Commission is likely to only cover some of von der Leyen’s campaign period.

“The guidelines-slash-rules apply to the European elections,” Mamer said.

Von der Leyen will officially launch her own campaign Sunday at a congress held by the center-right New Democracy party. Seibert and Winterstein will take up their roles by Monday.

Von der Leyen’s campaign has been dormant since the EPP endorsed her as its lead candidate in Bucharest on March 7. She will remain Commission president throughout the campaign period but will need to clearly demarcate her campaign appearances from her day-to-day running of the EU executive to abide by EU guidelines.

Her campaign will likely consist of a few set-piece events in various European countries.

While von der Leyen is broadly considered the frontrunner, there is no guarantee at this stage that the German politician will return to the Berlaymont. For that to happen, the EU’s leaders must nominate her after the election, and then a majority of MEPs must support her in a secret vote.

Von der Leyen’s digital adviser Anthony Whelan will replace Seibert as acting head of her Cabinet.