The Spanish Teresa Ribera, executive vice president of the European Commission, chaired this Wednesday, for the first time, the meeting of the College of Commissioners. Ribera has had to assume this role at the first meeting of Commission officials held this year due to the loss of President Ursula von der Leyen, who suffers from pneumonia from which she is recovering. In principle, this will be the only meeting led by the number two of the Community Executive, since Von der Leyen plans to recover her agenda next week.
In the first days of 2025, the Commission announced that the German conservative politician was suffering from “serious pneumonia” and that she was canceling her “external agenda”, although she would maintain daily contact with her team. On Monday, however, it was confirmed that Von der Leyen had asked Ribera, the number two official in her Executive, to take charge of this week’s meeting.
This news came days after the German publication Der Spiegel to disclose that Von der Leyen had been admitted to a hospital in Hannover, something that the Commission’s spokespersons had not reported. When the information emerged, they did point out that she had already left the hospital, that she had not needed to use a respirator and that she had not been admitted to intensive care at any time.
In principle, this Wednesday’s agenda marked the approval of this Commission’s economic program, baptized as the Competitiveness Compass. However, days ago its delay was announced until the end of this month. Finally, this College has approved a plan to prevent cyberattacks in the health sector.
