Ursula von der Leyen spent a week in the hospital for severe pneumonia

Brussels – The German news agency DPA has revealed that the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has been hospitalised for about a week at the University Hospital of Hannover due to severe pneumonia. On 3 January, the staff of the EU executive had disclosed the president’s health condition, but omitted—even in the days that followed—the prolonged stay in the hospital.

According to German media reports, the Commission would later report that von der Leyen was never in intensive care and that, even during her hospitalisation, she maintained daily contact with her team. Now the EU leader is at home, in the capital of Lower Saxony, as evidenced by a photo posted on Instagram by von der Leyen herself, accompanied by the caption: “Home sweet home…office!”

Despite the democratic practice that the health conditions of political leaders should be disclosed, albeit without going into details, the Commission had not disclosed von der Leyen’s hospitalisation, stating only that the president was in Hanover recovering from pneumonia from which she was suffering.

A week ago, EU executive spokesman Stefan de Keersmaecker announced the cancellation of all appointments scheduled by the president for the first two weeks of January due precisely to “severe pneumonia.” The cancelled appointments included an institutional visit to Poland for the start of the EU Council’s six-month rotating presidency term and a trip to Lisbon, where she was scheduled to deliver a speech. The next College of Commissioners, to be held next Wednesday in Brussels, is also at risk: in the event of the leader’s defection, the executive vice-president Teresa Ribera will preside over it.