European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is recovering from a severe case of pneumonia however won’t attend the weekly commissioners’ assembly.
The European Commission president is on the mend and is anticipated to renew in-person appointments quickly, amid criticism over the shortage of communication about her situation over the previous week.
Ursula von der Leyen won’t chair the College of Commissioners on Wednesday and has requested Executive Vice President Teresa Ribera to step in, a Commission spokesperson confirmed on Monday, including that “the president is recovering nicely.”
Currently recovering at her residence in Hanover, Germany, Von der Leyen is anticipated to renew her outdoors commitments later this week.
Next week he’ll take part within the World Economic Forum in Davos and the plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg.
His workplace introduced on January 3 that the president would cancel all outdoors engagements for the primary two weeks of January as a result of “extreme pneumonia.”
Pneumonia is a respiratory an infection that causes irritation of the air sacs of 1 or each lungs, usually leading to a buildup of fluid or pus. Symptoms could embrace persistent cough, fever, chills and issue respiratory.
At 66, von der Leyen is in a high-risk group for problems from pneumonia.
The president was hospitalized for over per week, from January 2 to 10, however continued to hold out her duties throughout her keep. “His skill to behave was by no means in query,” the spokesperson mentioned.
Managing the EU from a hospital mattress
The disclosure of von der Leyen’s hospitalization sparked criticism for the Commission’s dealing with of speaking his well being situation to most people.
His group solely publicly acknowledged his hospitalization final Friday, resulting in accusations of insufficient transparency.
The fee’s spokesperson defended the strategy, saying they supplied “important info on the state of the president’s well being”, together with the severity of his sickness – which hinted at his hospitalization – and his resolution to cancel exterior commitments .
While confirming that von der Leyen had a extreme case of pneumonia, the spokesperson clarified that she was by no means on a ventilator or in intensive care.
“The chairwoman was able, regardless of being in hospital, to proceed to run the Commission by staying in every day contact (along with her group), taking calls that she wanted to obtain and ensuring that enterprise continued to run,” he mentioned. the spokesperson mentioned.
Von der Leyen’s well being has since improved and he’s anticipated to totally resume his official obligations shortly.
